soccertese is an old grouch. Lonesome, ornery, and mean. And scared. Ignore him but don't let him run you off.

I think you're onto something here Yoga and Rick. I'm not a teacher but worked in the school system as well.

i'll be blunt. i have no obligation to quietly and graciously accept opinions from a new member or anyone that are about serious matters that could be mistaken for fact. i clearly don't welcome that you posted an old youtube video that was clearly a hoax and blew me off after i pointed it out. you started a thread with the assumption that teachers and nurses get parkinson's up to 2-3 times more often than the national avg and i clearly refuted that as not being anymore than a theory. finally you claim on one hand your poll means nothing but there just has to be something there. i guess having been a teaching assistant in grad school who taught intro statistics and used statistics in my research, i have less tolerance for a newbie's unscientific opinions. i'll offer support and share my experiences/knowledge/advice with anyone who asks for specific advice but no way will i hold back from criticizing opinions or threads that i strongly disagree with.

rick, you have me pegged except for the scared part. don't forget, anyone can use ignore.

Hi, From my perspective, I'm echoing Laura's idea. I think that PD is multi-faceted and we need a thorough meta-analysis of the research. Know any librarians who could do this ?

yoga, i'll not respond to you anymore, but c'mon, you posted on this board that you read that teacher's get more pd, the one place where you'd expect people to know if that was a valid HYPOTHESIS or not. You mentioned you've been talking to people about pd and was told by everyone you talked to that knew someone who'd died of p.d. that they had dementia, you jump into threads about p.d. on other boards, you started a number of threads that i've never seen a new member start before. do i think your're going to still tell people that you think your poll is significant? you betcha! reread your last post, you still mentioned the count as interesting. does it really matter? no, and i apologize. i was rude. last post.

Ah, soccertease, the only reason you aren't scared is because you aren't paying attention. But, enough of that. Lest we slip into meaningful discussion, let us return to our pact of mutual ignorance.

As Jimmy Swaggart, televangelist, told his cousin Jerry Lee Lewis, Satan's piano player, at the height of scandal, "You work your side of the street and I'll work mine."

rick,
i'll also refrain from making any future comments on your posts. you have a nice day.

I am, I'm sorry to say, a healthcare worker and have been for 11 years now. There may be more to it than just profession, though. How many different kinds of toxins and diseases are healthcare workers exposed to in a day? As a double whammy, I enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1997 and was discharged in 1999. It's been said that soldiers also have a higher instance of PD.

On the converse, I love my coffee, and I also smoke. Caffine and nicotine have both been shown to be neuroprotective. So it takes us back to the risk factors in the first place. I, like Laura (conductor 71) believe that it has some kind of auto-immune origin. That is also slightly generic in that auto-immune can have started with such a plethora of viruses and that any one of those could have somehow broke the blood-brain barrier to cause the necessary attack of the dopamine producing cells in the substantia nigra.

The treatment for this disease is what's most appalling. My neuro wants to talk about dbs before we've even started Sinemet. I'm going to have his conversation, but he's going to realize quickly next week that I'm the one living with it, not him. I'm not opposed to having the surgery, but not before we do something noninvasive like medication. Plus, there's the story I just read about Laura (Harley). Her having it removed, denied her meds, blacked out and placed under arrest, all because the nurses didn't want to give her her meds on time.

All we have is meds, brain surgery that acts like a band-aid, and the hope of a vaccine that may stop the progression, but may not. I'm excited about the vaccine, but I hold back at the same time, not wanting to get my hopes too high. Too much emphasis placed on what may be and not on what is going on around you not only sets you up for disappointment, but alienates everyone around you. Take care of your caregivers. One day you'll need them when you can't speak for yourself.

I too am a nurse with PD but I don't think my career had anything to do with getting this condition. A number of thoughts come to mind.
When I left school the career choices for girls where I lived were teaching, nursing, office work and little else. I'm the age group that gets PD and posts on boards. I suspect there is a disproportionate number of teachers and nurses here amongst the women at least. Like socerrtese I would want to know the overall stats of nurses and teachers otherwise the poll has no meaning for me.
Although I am a nurse, less than half my working life has been spent actually practising as a nurse. How do I interpret this?
My sibling has PD, diagnosed same time as me. I think genetics not career is far more significant for me but the poll would completely overlook this.
As to less prevalence of Parkinsons in poorer countries, Fiona that is interesting. Can you point me to any research on that. I am looking forward to your thread on people who have recovered from PD.