I can't resist, I like to say:
Do not burn your bridges until you get to them...... it's all water under the river...and a stitch in the hand saves nine on the roof.**

We don't fit into the stage patterns, but for the doctors who treat us, who don't themselves know from inside how it feels to have PD, it is necessary to make charts and slots into which they can squeeze us to categorize us. It always strikes me when I see my nice neurologist, that he may know all about PD and other movement disorders, but he will never know PD as I do. He can categorize me, but I determine what to think about my 'stage' and my quality of life....so far at least.

** Not making fun of using 'sayings', just agreeing whole heartedly, and light heartedly that the now must be enjoyed now.

still not quite awake yet. but, heres another question. how can a disease be catagorized in any stages when no two people are alike? even more to ponder... why are we all put under one umbrella when no two people are alike?

we know things by signs ...
like in the hospital they remove fingernail polish -so they can quickly
see you are not getting enough oxygen
they look at the eyes to see, if you pupils are dialated
etc.
just signs to watch out for -

And one we need from time to time to keep a reality check on ourselves.
I'm for all descriptions of PD. The symptoms and timescales generally describe all of us at one time or another.
Birte, i must say that your wisdom shines through. As an example in my individual case, i satrated choking within 4 years of the disaese, one night almost bit the big one. After that i said to myself "well there will be no more of this!" I tried very hard not to burn that bridge and consider myself on the other side of it. I concentrated on everything i've eaten since that night, and haven't choked on any food in years. I also got some great training about foood consistency awareness while in hospital for something (maybe)unrelated to PD. The only other significant symptom that i've managed to control is walking. With really trying, i can't walk too far, but i have almost stopped falling down, even without my cane. Other things, i just haven't had much luck with, although i keep trying.
AS an offside, I'm very bad at handling stress, moreso than anything, if i try to go off my antidepressants or Klonopin or pain meds to "keep from becoming too addicted" (never do this with sinemet!!!), I get nasty and over the years have alienated almost everybody in my family, who can't see it's the PD and not the underlying person, who they used to be tolerant with back in the old days when I could handle stress much better.
So what am I trying to say? Yes it is possible , in spite of "expected progression" to be a 0 in one aspect, a 2,3 or 4 in others, and even a 5 in other aspects still. Looking at all the categories, it's no wonder we're all so different when one considers the number of permutations that can exist.

In my opinion, these scales are a bit deceving. With all of the ups and downs we got through with PD, we could be almost anywhere on the scale at any given time. I for example am a "1" on some things, a "0" on another, and "2" on others most of the time. About a week ago before my doctor increased my Sinemet, I was up on the tremor scale and upon the rigidity scale.

Now there are times that I feel like I just want to give up and jump in the river, call it quits, and tell everyone to bugger off! Then a week later, I'm up and running, and that grand mood swing has gone away. If I had gone to the doctor then, she would have given me a 4 for depression!

So these rating scales, when they are used, are nothing more than a snap-shot taken at that time frame. In order for them to be truely accurate, they would need to be updated on a daily basis for the course of a month or so to get the full picture of what's happening.


John