Lurkingforacure,

My father was recently diagnosed with PD. My father has never been really sick. His immune system has always been very good. Much better than mine. Me, I always had problem getting sick a lot. As a kid, I was always sick. When I did my PhD my colleagues even told me I was always sick. But my father hardly got sick. Even more ... my father was in perfect state until he got problems with his prostate. This is something that men of his age typically get. The doctor prescribed him some alpha blocker to relax his prostate. He started taking it a year and a half ago. We all noticed that since he took this pills, he started to move slower and his posture was changing. But we didn't link this to PD. We hardly knew what was PD.

For us, his PD started when he took this alpha blockers for his prostate. This was the moment we saw him change. He constantly fell asleep behind his computer. Before these pills, he didn't fall asleep that much. The doctor says the pills are not known for causing PD. But to me that is ********. I know what I saw. Before them, my father was perfect. He was fast and had normal posture. Once taking them, we saw him change. After some research on the internet we found out these pills have an effect on the sympatic nervous system. ... Last week I found out that MJFF foundation is investigating whether PD is the consequence of something that happens to the sympatic nervous system ... Coincidence ? I think not.

I am not saying there are no other ways to get PD. I am convinced bacterias and viruses can trigger PD. To me, this is way doctors have an increased risk of getting PD. But I don't think this is the only way to get PD. There are also links with toxic metals and pesticides. Probably there are even other links that we yet have no idea about. Mohamed Ali got it from getting punched over and over again. I even read articles that claim a wiplash can cause you to get PD.

It is an interesting question to answer ... but at the same time, not an easy one.

Thank you for initiating this discussion.