Hello everyone. I am wondering if anyone here ever had a head injury at any time prior to developing Parkinson's. I have been trying to research and read about the possibilities of damage or inflammation to the brain due to an injury being something that causes Parkinson's... or perhaps Parkinson's symptoms, but not actually Parkinson's.

I have mentioned to doctors over and over that I had other problems for years prior to developing PD symptoms... but they all say that they are caused by the PD, even though I tell them these things existed long before any PD issues. In my early 20s I went to a chiropractor who only did a free screening. He asked me if I had ever been in a major car wreck after seeing my x-ray. I don't recall exactly what he pointed out, but he showed me something about my neck. He said that if I didn't do something about the problems with my neck and spine, I would have serious problems by the time I was 40... possibly severe arthritis. Doctors' attitude toward that at the time was that it was a scam to get me to pay money to the chiropractor, even though he was reputable and others benefited a great deal from seeing him. Well, I suffered with neck and shoulder blade issues through my mid 20s to my mid 30s. At the age of 36 I began to have issues with my back, and at age 37 I experienced sudden hot/cold sensations in my lower back. It was this same year that I had double vision and sharp needle-like pain on the top of my head. That was the first time I saw a neurologist. She ran different tests and took a ton of blood from me to do many blood tests. I had some slight numbness in my right leg that concerned her. Well, the blurred vision and intense pain on the top of my head went away... so I blew it off as being caused by stress brought on by a traumatic event in my life that I was continually having to deal with while raising my sons without their father... and other things added to it as well. I continued to have the back pain and hot/cold sensations on and off. At age 39, the essential tremors began in my right hand and arm. The following year the tremors progressed, and were all the time.... essential and resting. At age 42, simple daily tasks were a major challenge for me. That is when I was told I had YPOD.

Here's the thing that has always been a question in my mind, that I have mentioned to doctors (but they never pay much attention to it)..,. when I was 13 years old, my cousins and I had all been swimming, when it started to rain. We left and went to a Dairy Queen to use the restroom. We all had to go badly, so we were racing each other to the 1 toilet restroom. It was raining, and the DQ had painted the side walk about a month before... so it was very slick. As I was running (and yes, I was beating my cousins lol), my feet flew out from under me and I landed on the concrete, head and neck hitting first. As an adult, I realized that I had a concussion.... because I was throwing up and very sleepy. However, my mother did not take me to ER or even a doctor. In my late teens, I began having tremors in my neck or hands when I got nervous. I know that may be common for nervousness, but I never recalled doing that before. Around the age 26, I began having something strange happen with my speech. Though I am a writer, I still cannot come up with words to adequately describe it. It is like a jerking movement that happens. The only image I can think of that might help is to imagine a robot talking, and suddenly there is a glitch. That never stopped happening. It still happens, and is much worse and more frequent now. So, all these years, I have been wondering..... could it be that there was damage and/or inflammation that affected dopamine producing cells? Or maybe even didn't damage the cells, but caused a dopamine deficiency... which became more and more of a problem as the stress in my life increased?

Next month I am supposed to have a special PET scan done (I am allergic to Iodine, so I can't have the DaT Scan done..) to determine if the PD diagnosis is correct or not. My doctor wants to do this because he says that I have not reacted typically to PD meds.

I am curious to know how many of you have ever had a head injury, and hope to discuss this further. Something I would like to see done with research is more being done to answer the "why?" of PD, and not just with treating the symptoms or looking for a "cure".... because the greatest cure would be knowing what is causing it in the first place, and why more and more younger people are getting a disease that was once mostly an elderly disease. I am a "questioning" person by nature.... with everything... and I believe that to be a good thing. If there is anyone else out there who is interested in this, I would love to discuss further with you.