Originally Posted by Conductor71

Hi,

It's really awful to get the diagnosis, isn't it? In my case, I was diagnosed last year but had symptoms for at least six years prior; I finally had to start meds at time of diagnosis

I feel strongly that we need biomarkers to tag PD earlier but feel that they need to be used in conjunction with PET scans or other markers to accurately diagnose. I do not have any loss of smell or diminished capacity to smell, so I sometimes wonder how those of us who don't fit the mold would be helped early by a marker that doesn't apply to everyone? I would like to see biomarkers studied in conjunction with genetics to see if there is a link in there somewhere- many who carry PARKIN mutations experience PD differently in the early symptomatic stage; just maybe there is a clue here that will lead to helping us all....

Laura