Diagnosis as a beginning point puts too much on he quality of medical care available to you and how quickly you run to the doctor when you are ill.
So, my first symptoms began with a tremor of the right hand in 1992. Neuro mis-diagnosed as essential tremor. Sought out a different neuro in late 1999 due to difficulty walking. Was started on requip immediately and sinemet added soon after. Neuro later confided that for my age I presented as the worst case she had ever seen. But she also considered my response to treatment to be the best of her experience.

My symptoms have changed very slowly. Difficulty walking has the greatest impact on my QOL and is predominate in the motor department. In the past two years and in response to some incredible stress loads I have begun to have endocrine based problems similar to what someone with PTSD might have (i.e. anxiety, panic, depression, insomnia, etc).

After trying a half-dozen meds, I have settled on sinemet to avoid the problems of polypharmacy and its interference with my experiments on various alternatives. I was up to 32 mg daily of requip (24 mg is limit) and getting dyskinetic so I quit and switched to sinemet alone and am taking about 2000 mg of it. A large dose but I am trying to anticipate future problems and take things that research suggests should be protective.

Plant-derived polyphenols are my mainstay. In particular- green tea extract, turmeric, ginger. Also, alpha lipoic acid and acetyl-l-carnitine for mitochondrial boost, silymarin for liver and kidneys.

I have seen some improvment in the last six months (sense of smell has improved; am more help around house; sleep well, etc)