I'm not sure I belong in this group, but I have a friend with PD, and I do care.

My husband has Agent Orange related ischemic heart disease, and my gut feeling is that, that has been instrumental in his development of early onset dementia, which I feel is due to ischemic buildup in the small blood vessels to the brain. Although the government has not yet recognized this connection officially yet, one VA comp Doctor believes it will eventually be connected to AO, due to some similarities to PD, but not until after many more years of testing.

From reading what I have so far, my heart aches for people who have this disease. There is so much more to it than I had realized.

I can relate, just a bit, but only in a very limited way, because I have "Essential Tremors" - a genetic gift from my mother's family. The shakiness drives me crazy some days, and, yes, you can see that others wonder what in the world your problem is. So, I can relate, even if only in a limited way. Feeling stressed only makes it worse. I've never understood why people are so judgmental about shakiness. My grandmother shook, my mother shook, I have cousins who shake, and, now, I shake, so I've been seeing it for years. It is such a ridiculous thing to be judgmental about.

I know that there is much more to PD than shakiness. As I said, it just allows me to relate a bit.

I will continue to follow this site, and I send my best wishes to all of you.

Macbeth