Hi Imad,

I must admit that I benefited from visiting MDS and wish I had gone to see a MDS soon after my diagnosis. My neurologist who diagnosed me with PD was wonderful and kind to me, but his practical knowledge and experience with PwP were limiting factors. Looking back at my notes (yep, one of my compulsive behaviours!) I had a lot of side effects from meds and I fail to see the red flags. My neurologist did not pick up on any of my observations or clues to warn me of the side effects of drugs I was on. Fortunately for me, I had to change doctors because of health insurance reasons and ended up with a MDS. The first thing she did was to wean me off of mirapex.
Lindy, She actually prescribed yoga. exercise and good nutrition in addition to meds..Now,.every 6 months or so, I am evaluated.. I get the routine tap your feet etc tests and tests for cognition and memory too.

My MDS works with a group of people including a nurse (NP?/RN ); nutritionist, yoga/exercise teacher and of course a DBS team (neurosurgeon, speech therapist and neuro psychologist). It is recommended that a new patient see the first three and (if one is interested and at the appropriate stage of PD, meet the DBS team too) or attend a boot camp for PwPs, which is a half a day program offered by her team. A couple of people from this team and several PWPs who are treated at this facility are training, with a goal to climb Mt. Kilimanzaro this sept!

I understand this is not a typical setting at every clinic or hospital. I am glad my HMO covers all these things/ I know the value of exercise and nutrition, but never thought of voice and speech therapy. I did stumble into this by accident and benefiting from it. If you have access to a PD clinic with a MDS, make an appointment and visit them, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Girija