Dear All,

Do you have to be perfect? Do you have to appear as you always have to others? You are still you. Only you can choose to allow others to make you feel small. You can educate these people or you can ignore them. Paranoia is a symptom of PD. You may even be reading the people around you wrong and assigning negative impressions on them that you are feeling about yourself.

Life goes on. People develop freindships on commonly shared interests. If you can no longer perform the shared interest, do you honestly think the person you related to has changed. They have gone on with their lives. You are the one who changed. Not voluntary, for sure, but you can still find ways to make new friends. Walk around your neighborhood. I have met a Russian woman who speaks English poorly. I have the time and interest to get past her accent and understand her. There is a lonely retired man in the home across the street, who needs someone to talk to occasionally. He is painting the interior of his home. There are so many lonely people feeling exactly the same as you do, and don't have Parkinson's.

Lonliness and all the sadness it brings is not partial to Persons with PD. It is shared with retired persons, people who are deaf, People with language barriers. You can have the attitude of how awful your life is, or you can actively search out others who are lonely and try to befriend them.

Charlie, I'm with you. I like your attitude!

Vicky