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

@hopeful33250

I was just diagnosed today … I am still in the shocked phase of recovery.

I'm new here so hope I don't make too many mistakes!

Not sure what the reason I have PD or exactly what caused it. At least for some reason the neurologist I was seeing says that is what I have.

One of my biggest problems is memory or lack of it! Another problem is what I guess I would call gastric, won't go it to details at this point.

The doctor has put me on an exercise program three times a day, basically a set of stretches and walking. No meds at this point and my next appointment is sometime in May.

Mornings are the worst for me. I used to be a guy who could get up at 5:30am and snow blow drive(in winter here in NY) before going to work then come home and do it again when I got home. I understand that as I turned 76 today that might be too much to expect but even a couple years ago I could still manage that and still have energy to do other work.

Now just doing my stretching things are a struggle in morning, late after noon not as bad.

I'll stop right here for now and see if I can be sure to know how to post this!

I'm new here so hope I don't make too many mistakes!

Not sure what the reason I have PD or exactly what caused it. At least for some reason the neurologist I was seeing says that is what I have.

One of my biggest problems is memory or lack of it! Another problem is what I guess I would call gastric, won't go it to details at this point.

The doctor has put me on an exercise program three times a day, basically a set of stretches and walking. No meds at this point and my next appointment is sometime in May.

Mornings are the worst for me. I used to be a guy who could get up at 5:30am and snow blow drive(in winter here in NY) before going to work then come home and do it again when I got home. I understand that as I turned 76 today that might be too much to expect but even a couple years ago I could still manage that and still have energy to do other work.

Now just doing my stretching things are a struggle in morning, late after noon not as bad.

I'll stop right here for now and see if I can be sure to know how to post this!

@kshansen
I too am new to this. I've been told that exercise is key to keeping symptoms at bay. when I exercise, I have found that to be the case. I just need to keep at it. Also, I was told to see a movement disorder specialist. I had my first "meeting" last week via zoom and my first in person is in 2 weeks. good luck and try to stay active---but don't shovel any snow

I am new to this forum but was diagnosed about five years ago. My first, regular neurologist as a disaster who gave me no information, expected me to make uninformed decisions, and laughed off PD symptoms--literally! Since then I have seen movement disorder specialists who have been attentive, knowlegable, supportive and great. (Three in all--first one moved, switched sites between second and third due to transportation issues.) They have all been great and I highly recommend that level of care. My progression has been slow and on the whole everything is managable. One thing I have not asked about--I worry that at some point progression will surge. Is there any way to predict that? Is a slower progression likely to stay slow, likely to surge, or who knows?

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