Neil,

She went ten years with symptoms prior to diagnosis, so if we consider that factor in...DBS seems about right. I am in the same boat, people freak when they hear I have freezing only 3 years post diagnosis but I was pegged as ET for 5 years and symptomatic for at least 10 years. This raises a good question?? Using our diagnoses dates to mark time with PD only works for some. What would our doctors mark down as how long we've had the disease?

Given that researchers think we go twenty years before signs emerge...who knows. That factoid if it turns out to be so puts me at about 10 years old. Puts a whole new spin on things, doesn't it?

Laura

I use a powerchair just about all day. I use a wheelchair when I go out in public. It's just a choice for me fall down or sit down, my balance being the most inconsistent factor.

Laura,

I was diagnosed 1 month after i got a tremor in a single finger. How can my diagnosis date compare to yours, or Fowki's, in any scientific way? It's time for our doctors to discard that old marker.

Jean

Just because you have a wheel chair, you don't have to use it all the time. I am glad I have a wheel chair, even though I sometimes use it only a couple times a month. I expect it will be getting a lot of use over the next 2 weeks with the holidays and grandchildren visiting. It is great for a holding a fussy grandchild when I am too tired to carry them. I only use it at home, but it is great to come home after a busy day and be able to wheel around my kitchen instead of lying helpless on the couch.

I was prescribed a wheel chair 2 years ago when I moved to Florida just before Christmas. After too much unpacking and walking around the house without my cane, my "good foot" that does all the work when my other foot drags, swelled up and I was unable to put any weight on it. When the wheel chair company would call and ask if I was still using my wheelchair, I would say yes, and continued to make my insurance copay.