Hmm, Neil, that is so interesting. I think that must not be the case in the States - or wasn't when I was diagnosed at the age of 32. I had a spinal tap and some other nasties to 'rule out other possibilities,' but then diagnosis was made on the basis of clinical observation, I guess, because they didn't start me on levodopa for a couple of years. This was a second opinion; what the first neurologist said she saw was "something that almost looks a little like early onset Parkinson's." But I had the feeling when I saw the second guy who 'confirmed' the diagnosis, that -well, it's like if you're a carpenter, the world is made of nails. He could only see me through the lens of his specialty. My diagnosis was questioned after about ten years, with the thought that maybe it was dopa-responsive dystonia or something else, but by then I was on levodopa, so they were like, well, we'll just leave her on it.

Yeah, Sasha, at the time of diagnosis, my doctor was SO depressing. He didn't even tell me that it was possible I could do well for a number of years. But it almost seemed like the suspicion of me having this diagnosis was like the inference of a bad reputation or something - just being suspected of it meant that you definitely had it. It was weird. And then two years later, when sinemet was brought into the picture, they said, "Well, you should just go ahead and take these because we're going to have a cure in five years anyway." That was close to 15 years ago or so.