[pegleg]

People with Parkinson's are a moody lot! This may sound as if I am overstating a statement about my mood(s), but this is factual and has been consistent for my 18 years of living with PD.


My mood vascillates worse than Edgar Allen Poe's pendulum. Seriously, one minute I can be so up (almost manic) and the next nearly suicidal! I even scare myself sometimes.

Yesterday is an example. As many of you know, I have been wheelchair-bound for nearly 3 months, and am now in a rigid, cumbersome "boot" until after the holidays. Then to add stress to stress, my husband had a total knee replacement (and yikes! He's coming home this afternoon!)
I have held up pretty well under all of this, until ran into a church friend at the hospital. I regularly attend church, but have to miss many weeks due to the foot surgery. That's when I lost it. I wrapped myself around my frieend's neck and cried like a baby - and I have no idea why.

Researchers have identified that many who suffer with depression (before diagnosis) tend to be more susceptible to Parkinson's. Then add to your already imbalanced brain chemicals, MORE chemicals (dopamine, MAO-Inhibitors, Seritonin - SSRI's, etc), and your fluctuations with "on" and "off" times and exacerbation of PD symptoms can escalate.

I started thinking about this and how that may have a major impact on research results. For those of you who are proficient in analysis of statistical data, can this "mood" fluctuation be factored out in clinical trials? Or do we need to give this more attention?

Finally, this is probably a fluke, but just for fun you can download a "mood ring" (popular in my era) that goes right onto your toolbar. Laptops work best because you usually touch the keypad, but touching your mouse also "works.". Find out your mood right now and CAN SOMEBODY GIVE AN ANSWER TO THE QUESTION ABOVE ABOUT THE IMPACT OF DEPRESSION ON RESULTS IN CLINICAL TRIALS?

Download for mood ring:
http://www.ajcockrell.com/ajcockrell/moodring.htm

thx
peg