71 male just diagnosed last month

Hi my name is Jonimac52 . I am 73 & was diagnosed with light Parkinson’s first of Jan this year. Have not been able to walk since November of last year. I’m on carbadopa/levadopa 25/100 and currently see outpatient therapist twice a week. With the meds and therapy I’ve regained some ability to stand and walk a few steps assisted. I have problems keeping my blood pressure regulated so getting up and down can be tricky as it causes orthostatic hypertension. Anyone else experiencing the same?

@colleenyoung I’m a caregiver for my almost 86 year old husband with Parkinson’s and dementia. I’m a young 84 but 5 feet tall and weigh 100 pounds. For 2 years, I’ve taken care of my husband myself. At that time, his symptoms were pretty mild but he did have a few unmanageable incidents. Ultimately, I could not manage him and after 2 serious incidents where I had to call 911, as of August 12, 2025, I placed him in a memory care residence. His symptoms are primarily cognitive. I am just coming out of a terrifying and traumatizing nightmare of activity and emotions related to his swift decline. At the same time as I was grieving the loss of him and suddenly living alone, I had to get control of our assets from someone who had been in charge of it all and could not tell me anything about anything due to his cognitive loss. Things have mostly settled down now. My agonizing over whether I made the right decision about putting him in a residence when every day he was desperately pleading, threatening, or trying to leave is mainly over. He’s now more adjusted to his situation although he really hadn’t grasped his condition and still thinks it will be over one day and he’ll come home. He has times when he’s lucid and my heart sings only to be broken again when he regresses. At the age of 84, I am faced with making a new life. I tried the caregiver’s group once before but couldn’t face being in it. I’m not in denial but I still don’t know if I want to focus like this.

@colleenyoung Hi Colleen. I'd like to join. My dearest husband age 75 was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2025. We both are struggling to understand how to adapt to a new normal but so far we have no pattern and limited guidance from our medical team. We'd like to share and learn. Thank you.

@colleenyoung
I am 65 and was diagnosed with Parkinson's at the age of 32. I had my DBS surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. I'm at the point that the DBS helps somewhat but now have a lot of falls, my feet freeze up when I want to move forward and my legs don't. I am taking my carbidopa-levodopa every 3 hours now. My tremors are all the the lower extremity and it is getting more exhausting as I age. I feel so useless as I don't get much off time anymore. The Mayo Clinic says my Parkinson's was environmental as we lived on the farm with well water. My younger brother also had it but ended up committing suicide because he could no longer deal with it. My other two brothers are fine with no Parkinson's. I feel all alone with the constant dyskinesia and tremors. My husband of 23 years tries to be helpful but when I get dyskinesia he says just change your settings and I try but at this point it doesn't work as well and it makes me sad when I see the look of disappointment on his face. My Neurologist at Strong Memorial is the best but he had just told me that the disease is progressing. He really tries to keep me positive but it is getting harder with all my falls. I do use a walker now but it is hard to move through out the house. We have recently moved in with my daughter and her husband as my husband is 77 with 2 heart attacks and my Parkinson's. My daughter is now dealing with severe anxiety and does see a psychiatrist to help her. Everything is just getting so complicated.

@colleenyoung
My husband, 83, has been told that he has Parkinsonism which takes longer to blow into full Parkinson (?). He also has neuropathy of the legs due to diabetes (walks with a walker), short term memory loss which will probably lead to dementia. He has also had prostate cancer in 2023 and did radiation. He has had UTI since October and they finally found the strain and were able to control that with antibiotics. So a lot is going on.
In the last 8 months it seems that we are going through a roller coaster. It seems that almost every month, he seems he loses strength in his legs and can't stand up without assistance. We have gone to emergency where they treat him for his UTI. He then has to go to PT to get his muscles strength back. This time I took him toa different hospital and the Parkingson disease doctor evaluated him and said the roller coaster is probably due more to the Parkinson than UTI or any other issue. I am writing to see if other members who have Parkinson have experienced this roller coaster (in and out of hospitals and PT) and what do they do about it rather then going to the ER? No doctor so far has definitely been able to say what it is other than "it could be..." Thank you.