BRICK TOWNSHIP — The Brick Township Council recognized June as Dystonia Awareness Month at the June 27 council meeting.
Dystonia is a neurological hyperkinetic movement disorder. People suffering from dystonia experience frequent and repetitive muscle contractions, causing them to twitch, twist and otherwise move uncontrollably, or become fixed in rigid positions.
Marguerite Weiss, a Brick Township resident who has dystonia, said, “There are about 500,000 us here in North America who have it and it’s the third most common movement disorder following essential tremor and Parkinson’s.”
Councilwoman Melissa Travers said, “Dystonia Awareness Month is designed to help raise public awareness, understanding and support for the disorder of dystonia, a movement disorder similar to Parkinson’s Disease.”
Dystonia affects approximately one percent of the population, one third of whom are children and recently, more and more veterans are being diagnosed with this disorder.
Ms. Weiss said that she had received deep brain stimulation [DBS], which interrupts the electrical impulses in the brain.
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