Hello everyone. I am wondering if anyone here ever had a head injury at any time prior to developing Parkinson's. I have been trying to research and read about the possibilities of damage or inflammation to the brain due to an injury being something that causes Parkinson's... or perhaps Parkinson's symptoms, but not actually Parkinson's.

I have mentioned to doctors over and over that I had other problems for years prior to developing PD symptoms... but they all say that they are caused by the PD, even though I tell them these things existed long before any PD issues. In my early 20s I went to a chiropractor who only did a free screening. He asked me if I had ever been in a major car wreck after seeing my x-ray. I don't recall exactly what he pointed out, but he showed me something about my neck. He said that if I didn't do something about the problems with my neck and spine, I would have serious problems by the time I was 40... possibly severe arthritis. Doctors' attitude toward that at the time was that it was a scam to get me to pay money to the chiropractor, even though he was reputable and others benefited a great deal from seeing him. Well, I suffered with neck and shoulder blade issues through my mid 20s to my mid 30s. At the age of 36 I began to have issues with my back, and at age 37 I experienced sudden hot/cold sensations in my lower back. It was this same year that I had double vision and sharp needle-like pain on the top of my head. That was the first time I saw a neurologist. She ran different tests and took a ton of blood from me to do many blood tests. I had some slight numbness in my right leg that concerned her. Well, the blurred vision and intense pain on the top of my head went away... so I blew it off as being caused by stress brought on by a traumatic event in my life that I was continually having to deal with while raising my sons without their father... and other things added to it as well. I continued to have the back pain and hot/cold sensations on and off. At age 39, the essential tremors began in my right hand and arm. The following year the tremors progressed, and were all the time.... essential and resting. At age 42, simple daily tasks were a major challenge for me. That is when I was told I had YPOD.

Here's the thing that has always been a question in my mind, that I have mentioned to doctors (but they never pay much attention to it)..,. when I was 13 years old, my cousins and I had all been swimming, when it started to rain. We left and went to a Dairy Queen to use the restroom. We all had to go badly, so we were racing each other to the 1 toilet restroom. It was raining, and the DQ had painted the side walk about a month before... so it was very slick. As I was running (and yes, I was beating my cousins lol), my feet flew out from under me and I landed on the concrete, head and neck hitting first. As an adult, I realized that I had a concussion.... because I was throwing up and very sleepy. However, my mother did not take me to ER or even a doctor. In my late teens, I began having tremors in my neck or hands when I got nervous. I know that may be common for nervousness, but I never recalled doing that before. Around the age 26, I began having something strange happen with my speech. Though I am a writer, I still cannot come up with words to adequately describe it. It is like a jerking movement that happens. The only image I can think of that might help is to imagine a robot talking, and suddenly there is a glitch. That never stopped happening. It still happens, and is much worse and more frequent now. So, all these years, I have been wondering..... could it be that there was damage and/or inflammation that affected dopamine producing cells? Or maybe even didn't damage the cells, but caused a dopamine deficiency... which became more and more of a problem as the stress in my life increased?

Next month I am supposed to have a special PET scan done (I am allergic to Iodine, so I can't have the DaT Scan done..) to determine if the PD diagnosis is correct or not. My doctor wants to do this because he says that I have not reacted typically to PD meds.

I am curious to know how many of you have ever had a head injury, and hope to discuss this further. Something I would like to see done with research is more being done to answer the "why?" of PD, and not just with treating the symptoms or looking for a "cure".... because the greatest cure would be knowing what is causing it in the first place, and why more and more younger people are getting a disease that was once mostly an elderly disease. I am a "questioning" person by nature.... with everything... and I believe that to be a good thing. If there is anyone else out there who is interested in this, I would love to discuss further with you.

We were hit in the head with a boulder in elementary school, tons of blood (the school nurse who came running out to the playground fainted!)...we have always wondered this as well and no doc would ever really consider it as a cause.

I have read many PWP who before their dx, had one or more of the following:

1. head trauma
2. car accident
3. surgery (very often planned!)

Go figure. I dont' know what to make of it except that you may want to look into Dr. Peter Jannetta's work with microvascular decompression.....I have posted about him here on the forumi if you are interested. While you are having your testing done, it might not be a bad idea to have a Tesla 3 MRI done of your brain, only the T3 can see the compression Dr. Jannetta's procedure addresses.

I had slow focus problems since 4th or 5th grade, but nothing else until a diving accident occurred in 7th...then right foot wanted to turn and drag, neck and shoulder pain / poor posture/ slight stutter at times/ wanted to withdraw from people...and like autism kids..had trouble looking at people when talking to them, very shy....and ,memory problems started at that point. I would sit in school with my legs twisted up like a pretzel!. No further PD symptoms for a couple of years...started drooling at night. In 2002, while taking care of my dying mother...internal tremors began (and freezing in bed happened twice) memory worsened/ writing & spelling became a problem. Arm started to do strange things...comes up in front of me like a puppy. I started eating a ripe papaya every week and many symptoms got better. * started alot of self-help stratagies and kayaking. Driving improved some and my balance. Massage Therapy school /2008 sleep issues/ more tremor / eyes hurt and began to stare and not blink...especially during stress. Oct of 2009..more balance issues / incontinence becoming a problem. Tincture of fava plant was ready to try..... it took away EVERY symptom , Including the slow eye focus that continued from grade school on. So, with the addition of a very small amount of l-dopa, presto...all my life changed. My brother passed away with heart trouble and PD in Dec. Had same symptoms as me, but on all the PD meds available...went downhill very quickly, he was 65 ..I am now 60.
My grandfather and his brother also were on sinemet in their later years.
Definite neck and head injuries several times between..getting into cars mostly and not ducking far enough...poor coordination and focus. NOW I'm better than in 7th grade before accident / stronger , healthier except for CONSTIPATION....even with eating very organic and lots of exercise... that's continually getting worse.

I sustained 2 concussions prior to diagnosis. The first was a motorcycle accident at age 20. The second was at work. I was a maintenance man. I walked into a solid steel back access door to a boiler while looking down to avoid tripping on some hoses in the way. I was knocked out. I was 38 then. I was diagnosed with PD at 40. Was the PD due to the concussions or other factors? I can't say but I'm sure they didn't help matters.

I was knocked unconscious twice from head trauma, at 15 and 30. Also four auto accidents, whiplash.

Insecticide exposure, too.

Injection of cardiolite for heart imaging put me through the ceiling as did cat flea medicine (only a drop on my wrist).

I had a number of concussions as a child as a result of child abuse. At about the age of 28 I suffered anouther neck injury from a car accident. MMy diagnosis was confirmed a few years later.

I also have a sister who fell off a horse when she was 17.She was airlifted to a hospital in Detroit hospital where they diagnosed her with leaking spinal fluid and a fractured skull.

Lately I have been awakened with severe pain and tightness in my back and am unable to get out of bed without help. I just got up after trying to stretch it out. Could not lie flat on floor to attempt exercises. The pain of lying on my back was too much.

Vicky

i too have suffered bad head injury and the symptoms don't seem towant to go away. some are weird, like tremors and numbness and I wonder if I too will get ms one day. I can barely cope with the symptoms I have!

When the whole back of my body stiffens, I nuke my sock (end tied to keep rice in) full of rice (uncooked) for 90 sec and lie down with it under my neck. Relaxes my back and legs.