Heard that dogs can be trained to detect PD with 80% accuracy?

1. As for dogs diagnosing PD - Google'this: National Library of Medicine . T"hen search on "Trained Dogs can detect the odor of Parkinson's Disease. This is under the National Institutes of Health and a credible source for info like this. It's something worth exploring with your neurologist. In case they aren't familiar with this, bring the article wth you when you meet with him.
2. As for it being better to start PD treatment sooner rather than later, I personally believe that to be the case; I have read someting about it somewhere - don't remenber the source - so this is must my 2 cents, not substantiated by anything solid
3. As for the expense of the tests and putting off pursuing the testing until your husband is covered by Medicare. That certainly makes alot of sense, at least in the US .I live in Germany, where they will put you in the hospital for testing so you don't have to go all over Hell's half acre getting the tests on an out-patient basis. You're available when the equipment is and they can get all the tests done within about 10 days. And everything that happens to you from the tme you check into the hospital until you check out is totally overed by your health insurance.
4.I had an experience that may be helpful in your case. It took forever to get my diagnosis because I only had one symptom - I kep getting increasingly fatigued to the point that for more than a year I was bedridden. I went through 3 hospitals, playing "Stump the Doctors" . All 3 neurology departments came to the same conclusions: (a)They don't know what was wrong with me
(b) Nothing in any of my tests was sufficient to warrant a diagnosis of Parkinsons.
(c) My doctor at the last hospital said the same thing. BUT he wanted to try something, which was to see how I responded to l-dopa. It is a pretty firm principle that disagnosis is determined based on data from objective tests and only when they confirm the diagnosis do they prescribe treatment. Inferring a diagnosis based on how you respond to a treatment is dangerous because while a particular treatment may diminish the symptoms, it's entirely possible that the treatment is merely masking the symptoms rather than actually treating the disease. And if you had had a valid diagnosis, and had taken the right treatmetn, you migh get well; if you just mask your symptoms, you won't get well.. All that makes sense.. This doctor was willing to just try giving me l-dopa to see how I responded to it. He did the normal pull your arms legs, hit your knees with the rubber hammer, etc. to establish a "Before" baseline. Then he gave me an l-dopa pill and said he would return in 1 hour. When he came back, he did the same testing to compare with the "before". It was magic. It was as if I had been to a faith healer, who had cured me by putting his hand on my head while babbling some nonsense. I could get out of bed on my own. I could walk a a bit, sit in a chair, stand up .(but not quite agile enouggh to do the Hokey Pokey ), but given I'd not moved for so long, it was still a pretty incredibel performance. So, based on all the tests I had had, he could not give me a firm diagnosis of PD; but the results did not indicate anything else and they did not definitnitively RULE OUT PD.( they couldn't say for sure that I had PD, NOR could they say for sure that I didn't have it). The differential piece here was that I did respond well to l-dopa, a slim little, tiny bit of objective evidence suggesting that I may possible perhaps maybe have PD. In your situation, perhaps the doctor would consider giving your husband this l-dopa test as part of the diagnostic process -finding one more data point to put in the pot of possibilities. It might be interesting to contact the researchers who did these other tests. They might be willing to test your husband as part of the process. If you were to do the l-dopa and dog tests while you march slowly to December when your insurance will pay for the standard tests, it's possible that your doctor will decide to use just a few standard tests (rather than the 9 gadzillion and 83 ones I had) to verify the results from the dog sniffing and l-dopa tests. Then you husband can join the rest of us on the Magic Yellow l-Dopa Road.

I forgot something. Maybe you could do a mini-test with dogs and see whether other dogs do the same thing with your husband. At a minimum, you'd need to note the breed and sex of the dogs, and perhpas their age and weight as well . You could even contact those folks who did the tests and ask them what data they got on the dogs they test ed so you could get the same data and maybe they'd like to see what you found.You could use your phone to video their response.

One last thing - this PD thing isn't exactly how any of us would want to spend our lives trying to outwit, and some times it's far less pleasant than we would wish. One thing that keeps me going is that I insist on having fun (and I can find fun in some pretty un-funny situations. There is so much in the world that is bizarre and odd and funny Sometimes you have to look for it more rigorously than others, but it's there, waiting to be found.

How very kind to share your story with me! I so appreciate your addressing each of my concerns. I will keep in mind all that you said. I agree that there is much joy in life, no matter our particular circumstances.

Thank you for sharing your story, and I hope you and your husband can get some good answers soon. I felt so much better after I had a diagnosis and got on treatment.

I want to point out that in the US, you can get on Medicare when you turn 65. It has nothing to do with retirement. I just did that a year ago. In fact, I waited to go to a new neurologist after I was on Medicare because I had so many more options. Collecting Social Security is a totally different thing.

Thank you so much for sharing this with me. I know he is eligible for Medicare at 66 but at this time until he retires he prefers to keep his health insurance through his work. I don’t think it’s a great value compared to Medicare but this is what he chooses to do. Thank you again.

Personally I think you should ask him to see a doctor and inform the doctor of all his symptoms. The sooner he gets diagnosed the sooner he starts feeling relief from the symptoms. I hope it's something else and not PD.

Thanks so much for your response.