Okay, I must admit this was entertaining, but come on folks! Yogaforlife, don't let an overly skeptic and sometimes brusque Soccertese keep you from sharing your ideas, hunches or hypotheses. I didn't misread that you were stating any of your observation for fact. Nor, do I sense she intended to mislead anyone. I am not sure how you are extrapolating that?

That being said, I do think Soccertese has a valid message under the brusque manner. I think he is saying we have enough myth out there surrounding PD, so we need to be cautious of how we phrase things or in what we choose to share as anecdotal evidence because people will run with it. I just wish he'd find a kinder, gentler way...like using "I" statements or something.

So Yoga and Soccertese, please do not avoid each other or worse leave the forum behind. We need Newbies. We need a balance. I actually gave up posting on the YO forum at NPF because I couldn't stomach the misinformation. I felt compelled to set things right using research to back me then realized they don't care; they just want to wrap themselves in virtual warm fuzzies. I am too much a slap in the face, but I still post from time to time because I think that being in denial for too long is not good. I think the best part of this forum is the member's willingness to ask and face the tough questions.

Please let's not fight...really the idea of any of us arguing over this stuff (see Rick's new thread). Maybe we should figure out what is really bugging us and redirect our energy...

BTW, to further cement our hypothesis here... I was and still am a librarian first and foremost. Back when the PD could have been making a cozy nest in my brain, I worked as a reference librarian in several large, urban public libraries. My colleagues and I on some dreary, wintry days note how we felt more like we worked in a TB ward. Need I say more...

Why did you wait so long to be blunt?

http://www.parkinson.org/NationalPar...c8265db1c4.pdf

'... studies have been conflicting, but there are several occupations that
may potentially be associated with Parkinson’s disease.
...“the medical records
of 2,249 consecutive patients from three centers were
reviewed ... Physicians,
dentists, farmers, and teachers were significantly more
common amongst Parkinson’s disease patients, as were
lawyers, scientists, and religion-related jobs. Computer
programmers had a younger age at Parkinson’s disease
diagnosis, and risk of diagnosis less than or equal to 50 was
greater in computer programmers and technicians.” They
concluded that healthcare, teaching, and farming were
common occupations in Parkinson’s disease patients,
but welders were not over-represented in their sample
(Goldman, Tanner et al. 2005). Larger studies are needed
as there have been conflicting results.. '

Problem with this study in reference to welders was that the clinics did not serve groups in which welders would be well represented.
Farmers I get and older dentists who handled mercury(my bias). As far as computer programmers, perhaps our acupuncture friend is correct; those electronic frequencies are damaging.
When does the registry for PD begin?
madelyn

.....surely all these surveys are totally inconclusive ? (Apart from recommending further surveys)

It may well be that a large majority of the vocal postees on this forum come from the occupations described, hence the skewed result.

Computer technicians may well exist on a diet of junk food

There may be significantly more nurses, teachers doctors in society than welders

I'd also beware of discouraging future recruits to these jobs and professions by sticking a 'danger' label on them.....

.....and if there was a chance of making money representing group actions surely the 'ambulance chasers' would be at it by now ? (call me a cynic )

love the discussion tho

Self-serving "studies" recommending yet more self-serving research and study. Has any study EVER concluded with an outright cure or even a solid statement declaring "this is it, it's definitive, no more work needed on this issue?" I can't think of a one.

Those in the hallowed halls are ignoring what seems so obvious and has been discussed in soooo many articles. Stress, inflammation, anxiety, these all set the cascade in motion that manifests in symptoms the powers that be have collectively labeled PD.

Why don't they really go after this? Because they can't, for two main reasons. One, obviously, there would go all the research jobs, pharma jobs, heaven forbid, doctor and nurses would have no patients, etc.

Second, what in the world would happen if people in this country were told they needed to radically scale back our ridiculously stressful lives in order to prevent/slow down PD? Horrors! No one working 80-100 weeks in order to make a big salary in order to buy the big house, fancy car, all the stuff our society has been brainwashed into believing it must have in order to be happy and "successful". Heck, people would realize they don't even NEED all that "stuff" and our entire society would shut down. No more 24-hour Wal-Marts, entire malls would atrophy, it would be a disaster. Sure, there'd be those people who didn't believe, and would continue to work and live like before, but many many people would really begin to think about their life and what was truly important, and change.

The focus would shift from "I want this, and I deserve it" (as we have been drilled into believing from cradle to grave) to "Is this worth getting PD for?" And short of saving your child's life, what would be worth getting PD for?

Call me cynical, and yes, I have sadly become quite jaded. I know there are lots of dedicated folks out there sincerely working in the best interests of PWP, and I hope they succeed. But I fear they are quite outnumbered by those that are sincerely working only in the best interests of their own bottom line.

“the medical records
of 2,249 consecutive patients from three centers were
reviewed ... Physicians,
dentists, farmers, and teachers were significantly more
common amongst Parkinson’s disease patients, as were
lawyers, scientists, and religion-related jobs. Computer
programmers had a younger age at Parkinson’s disease
diagnosis, and risk of diagnosis less than or equal to 50 was
greater in computer programmers and technicians.”

Were these centers in places where these groups were well represented anyway.... I can't help thinking that there is a cultural element to studies like this....... could these kinds of statistics be replicated in other places in the world.....

But also looking at computer programmers...... I think it could be simplistic to think that it is just working with the equipment that might pre-dispose people to PD, I remember a thread more than a few years ago, when many people belonged to the BT forum, and there was a preponderance of people who were using computers for design purposes..... I was one of them - at the time editing hundreds of hours of video; very time intensive hard slog......

Many jobs using digital technology entail being highly focused for long periods of time, workers often override health warnings in the interest of staying focussed; the work is mentally demanding, the production is way more intense than in pre-digital times, and the demands of employers are high, they often do not understand that it is the worker who is doing the job, not the machine - and expect jobs to be completed to unrealistic time schedules - long hours - limited movement - high ratio of mental to physical effort - long periods of staying fixed in one position, hand poised on mouse....

I guess that could be a recipe for PD......... much more that the screen - though there is the matter of overstimulated visual cortex and the resulting effect on circadian rhythms - digital workers are prone to insomnia and sleep disturbances too.......... another feature of PD........

Even if there is a correlation between occupation and PD, the cause may not be directly linked to the job. Instead, there may be a third factor linking the two. For instance, if the occupations listed as having high rates of PD had low rates of smoking, and if low rates of smoking led to high rates of PD.

John

Thanks for this. It is so very basic that these variables easily get overlooked
Welcome to the forum, btw.

Lindy,

I have heard that something in the computer screen display itself actually stimulates you further exacerbating any insomnia one may have. What do many of us do when we can't sleep? We go online.


Laura