Day 19

Today is the 11th day of taking a full dose of my medication. My lower back is really sore. I am not certain if this is a symptom of the disease or a side effect of the medication, but I am almost certain that it is not from working out.

The more that I hear and read about Parkinson's disease, the more I learn that many people take their medication, see their doctor every three months and live relatively symptom-free lives. I am hoping that this will be the case with me. My doctor thinks so and I am following her lead!

Compared to many Parkinson's patients, I have only a few symptoms.  Before the Movement Disorder Specialist diagnosed me with Parkinson's disease, my neurologist blurted out, "These are all the classic signs of Parkinson's." Keep in mind that this was after keeping me waiting for over two and a half hours and seeing me for less than 10 minutes!  I took the next day off from work and spent the majority of the day searching for a Movement Disorder Specialist and scheduling an appointment. I somehow managed to get a great doctor to see me in two weeks. In those two weeks, I attempted to stay away from the internet, but I could not help myself. I stumbled it upon the following questionnaire on the Michael J Fox foundation website.

1. Have you been getting slower in your usual daily activities?
2. Is your handwriting smaller?
3. Is your speech slurred or softer?
4. Do you have trouble arising from a chair?
5. Do your lips, hand, arms and/or legs shake?
6. Have you noticed more stiffness?
7. Do you have trouble buttoning buttons or dressing?
8. Do you shuffle your feet and/or take smaller steps when you walk?
9. Do your feet seem to get stuck to the floor when walking or turning?
10. Have you or others noted that you don't swing one arm when walking?
11. Do you have more trouble with your balance?
12. Have you or others noted that you stoop or have abnormal posture?

Questions above in red are the ones that I answered in the affirmative. At that point, I was just  waiting for a doctor to confirm what I already knew. There was also some good news. That was, of course, the fact that the odds are that I can live symptom-free if I keep taking and adjusting my medication.


Some facts about Parkinson's from Johns Hopkins:

There are approximately 60,000 people diagnosed with the disease per year. The average age of onset of symptoms is 60, but five to ten percent of patients have symptoms before the age of 40. The prevalence is expected to triple in the next 50 years.

...25 to 40% of patients have clinically significant anxiety disorders. These can involve problems with generalized and nonspecific anxiety, phobias of going out in public or being in crowded or closed spaces, or panic disorder, which was seen in 25 percent of patients in some series.

 I think that that is enough for today.