Budgies -

I didn't see this article, but I know exactly how you feel (insofar as that is possible) - things like that used to totally crush me. Now, I assume the poor person has some disease other than the one I have. Maybe atypical parkinson's. Maybe not parkinson's at all. Maybe some complication - menningitis or something occurred and overwhelmed the neurological system. Maybe they were assaulted by some environmental toxin on an ongoing basis. Maybe I am just trying to defend myself against an essentially unknowable course of illness, but, through this board and my local support group I now know of many good people who do quite well with this disease for a long time. It is believed that one local gentleman may have had it for 50 years and yet he continued to cook, paint, travel and live at home with his wife for over 40 of those years - and worked for many of them.

One thing I've started doing - I print out entries from this board, articles, etc. that speak hopefully of the future of Parkinson's and how we can help ourselves - new treatments, vitamins, exercise, whatever appeals to me and keep them in a notebook. If I start feeling overwhelmed, I look in my notebook and ask myself if I am really doing all I can for my quality of life and healthy and that of others with Parkinson's - the answer is always no, so then I pick something new to try and immediately feel better for being less the victim. A lot of it is about finding ways of coping that are meaningful to you! Good luck.

Sasha