Our insurance is also a type of BC/BS, so hopefully they will be fine with new patient visits with a new doc.

My husband is "active" physically. But he doesn't really want to be too "active" in the process of learning about his disease. I actually know a lot of people like him. Most people are surprised by how much I know about my disease, meds, etc.. I like to keep up with the latest research, and I'm OK with hearing the scary possibilities. But my husband I think is like a majority of people --he would rather not know what "might" be coming, he would rather live his life and take it as it comes. As to whether he would be willing to just trust the doc and do whatever he says - I'm not sure. He's never been one to go to docs or take meds, but I think if he was sick enough or in bad enough shape, he would probably just do as the doc says -- without looking into it much himself -- But I don't know -- pretty much, I think he feels that's what he has me for. It's just tough for me to know how much info to hand out to him when, as to not get him too anxious. I'm going to post a question or two on the forum and you'll see what I mean.

As far as a healthy lifestyle -- that is one of confusion and irony for us both. My husband and I have both lived very healthy lifestyles. So healthy, in fact, when I give my history I've had the nurses not believe me. We both married young (virgins, never another sexual partner), neither of us have ever tasted alcohol, never smoked, done any drugs, not even caffeine (we don't drink coffee, tea, or soda) both of us vegetarians our entire lives, and mostly vegans for many of those years. And by vegetarian/vegans - -we eat whole foods and are careful to eat nutritionally balanced meals, we have always exercised and pretty much been health nuts. You would think living these healthy lifestyles would put us at pretty low risk for chronic illness. Well, lo and behold, both of us come down with chronic illness in our 40s (well he just turned 50 but the symptoms have been there at least a year). Go figure. It has taught me that there are no guarantees. It is frustrating - but no we aren't going to throw in the towel on our healthy lifestyles -- we'll be the healthiest patients with chronic diseases that we can possibly be!! Another irony is that I think I read somewhere that people who smoke and drink caffeine have a lower risk of PD (maybe I've read that about alcohol too, I'm not sure). Is that true? Well he's definitely not taking up the smoking or drinking, but I'm wondering about the caffeine - would it help any with symptoms at this point? It is frustrating to think you are taking good care of your body and have it backfire.

My husband has a physical job, and has always been active in sports. This is definitely slowing him down, and some of his sports (basketball particularly) are just not working well for him anymore, but we are determined to keep him active and exercising, in any way we can. I notice sometimes I have to push him and remind him how important it is to exercise - as he is tired after work and would like to do the couch potato thing. But he is happy when I am his workout buddy and we encourage each other. Making sure he stays active will be a part of our decision about when to start taking meds - another big question mark for us -- probably is for many who are diagnosed at an early stage I am sure. I feel like even if there is nothing to slow progression --if the meds keep him active that in himself will help slow progression. But we kind of scared of the meds too and want to hold off as long as possible.