Living with Parkinson's Disease - Meet others & come say hi

@chrissymc

I am sorry ot hear of the many physical, emotional, and cognitive symptoms you have experienced. You have mentioned a lot of chronic health issues, and I understand how the symptoms from each one can cause confusion when you are looking for a diagnosis and treatment.

Has your doctor contacted you yet about the results of DAT scan? This is an appropriate test to see if your brain is producing dopamine. I understand there is also a skin biopsy test that can detect PD. Not every doctor believes that it is an accurate test, though.

I was diagnosed a number of years ago, in a different way. The neurologist that I saw did other tests (MRI of the brain, EMG, etc.) to rule out other causes for my symptoms and then put me on a low dose of carbidopa/levodopa. When I started taking the meds, I had significant symptom relief. So, it was determined that I had PD. It is a rather unusual way to come about a diagnosis, but it did work well for me.

I look forward to hearing from you again as you search for a diagnosis and when you hear back about the results of the DAT scan.

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good basic easy to understand book about Parkinson’s disease? I could look on Amazon and pick one up. I would appreciate any of your recommendations. Thank you.

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Hi, I'm 76 and recently diagnosed with PD. Finding this new diagnosis very hard to come to terms with. I have many symptoms and am responding to carv-levodopa. Looking forward to hints and suggestions on how to live with and cope with Parkinsons. Thanks.

Hi I am Pat Canale and I’ve had Parkinson’s since 2013 with diagnosis coming in 2015. I found your site through a family member who sent me a link to a problem I had recently experienced. Looking forward to continuing my research with the problem of experiencing total unresponsiveness for a 30 minute period and followed with a trip to the emergency room and resulted in no diagnosis.

Thank you for your comment. I think the most bothersome symptoms are the tremors and the sleep issues. I've had an essential tremor for years and it is still with me along with my new PD tremors.

@chrissymc
Rather than a book, I would suggest you go to the Davis Phinney Foundation website. The have numerous videos addressing many of the issues of Parkinson's. They are a great resource. You can sign up to receive updates whenever a new video will be presented.
They also have a YouTube channel where you cam view all of their videos.

There are probably good books as well, but I tend to learn more from watching videos.

Hi I am Pat Canale and I’ve had Parkinson’s since 2013 with diagnosis coming in 2015. I found your site through a family member who sent me a link to a problem I had recently experienced. Looking forward to continuing my research with the problem of experiencing total unresponsiveness for a 30 minute period and followed with a trip to the emergency room and resulted in no diagnosis.