[jcitron]

In thinking back on my diagnosis, I was trying to remember when I first started seeing signs of something wrong. We know that PD isn't an instantaneous thing unless you're a heroin addict and shot up MMTP instead. These underlying symptoms were there for quite awhile, but we never attribute them to anything in particular, or we if we do, we think of them as being something else.

For me, as I was delving deeper in thought on this, I realize I was actually seeing (feeling) some of these symptoms as far back as 10 years ago! In 1998, I started with the dystonia in the feet and the cramps in the legs. At the time, I attributed it my old clubbed-foot and muscle regression, which had been going on for over 30 years prior. I also noticed too that I was getting more and more fatigued, but I was also working a lot of hours at a new job that I liked very much. The dystonia always seem to happen when I was stressed out like when driving in rush hour traffic, or doing a lot of walking. At one point I walked from North Station in Boston to the Prudential Center. This is about 4 miles, and a lot of that was done on cobblestoned sidewalks. By the time I reached the Prudential Center, my feet had cramped up miserably. I again thought it was the clubbed foot, and the possibility of the left foot wanting to do the same.

Over the intervening years, the dystonia and leg cramps got worse, but would come and go. In 2003, I had a really stressful time, and on my way to have some thyroid surgery, my feet turned in again. Things settled down after the surgery, but would flair up when I was stressed, like driving during a snowstorm, which is sheer hell up here as many of you know.

There were times too when my hands didn't work and I felt stiff in my legs and neck. Ah it's good old Arthur visiting me. What else is new? Living in the cold damp New England with a surgically repaired foot. No wonder the arthritis is setting in. My hands, well I was just under a lot of tension, and driving didn't help much. My neck is stiff; it's arthritis from an old injury (I was hit in the head during my one and only golf lesson. I've never gone near a golf club again!).

In the summer of 2004, my sister got married and I was under a lot of stress. We had to deal with getting things setup, had to deal with her on again and off again attitude, among many other things. Prior to the wedding, including right up to the rehersal, my feet were doing the turning in thing. This was now happening while I was driving on the highway at 70 mph! I, of course, pulled over right away, and sat ther until the cramping subsided. I thought it was because of my car. A Toyota Celica is meant for young people; not those of the early middle-age, besides, I didn't have any air-conditioning because it had broken. At $1600 to repair it, (due to a special part from Japan) I did the old 2-50 air-conditioning thing, but the car was still very hot and it was very humid out. Probably not drinking enough water, I said to myself.

The day of the wedding, July 27th to be exact, I had the cramps again. I was walking out of the hall to talk with my cousin, whom I hadn't seen in over a year. It was too noisy to talk in the dance hall so he, my brother and uncles, and I ajourned to the more quiet hallway. As I was going out there, the feet did it again. I could barely walk, and just about crawled over to the chair. The cramps disappeared. I blamed it on the new shoes.

Well one week later, August 3, 2004, I had a tremor in my right hand, that scared me because I couldn't pin it down on anything I was doing, and called my primary care doctor. There were a lot of painful tests done, that didn't show anything, but one test showed my Lipitor had raised my CPKs up there. I was happy for a diagnosis, but sadly the termination of the statin drug did nothing for the cramping, stiffness, sore arms, and everything else that was happening.

So this is where things are today. I'm sure many of you did the same thing - attributed the multitude of different symptoms on many normal, sometimes self-inflicted, things like bad posture, twists, slips, and falls, and never really thought that these could be the signs of a more insideous problem like Parkinson's disease.

John

[vlhperry]

Dear John,

If you were to search the history on this site of the number of people who have attempted to go over their pre-diagnosed medical history you will get many hits. The question that needs to be asked is how Parkinson's disease is formed. Many diseases imitate others.

Could you guess what this disease was strictly by its symptoms?


Loss of energy. Don't feel like doing much. Tired all the time.
Just don't feel well; don't quite feel normal. Hard to explain but just feel kind of bad.
Feel old. Don't have the interest in things that you used to.
Can't concentrate, or can't keep your concentration like in the past.
Depression.
Osteoporosis and Osteopenia.
Bones hurt; typically it's bones in the legs and arms but can be most bones.
Don't sleep like you used to. Wake up in middle of night. Trouble getting to sleep.
Tired during the day and frequently feel like you want a nap.
Spouse claims you are more irritable and harder to get along with (cranky, bitchy).
Forget simple things that you used to remember very easily.
Gastric acid reflux; heartburn; GERD.
Decrease in sex drive.
Thinning hair (predominately in older females).
Kidney Stones.
High Blood Pressure (sometimes mild, sometimes quite severe; up and down a lot).
Recurrent Headaches (usually patients under the age of 40).
Heart Palpitations (arrhythmias). Typically atrial arrhythmias.

These symptoms sound like almost any neurological illness. Lupus, Chronic fatigue, Parkinson's, etc. The difference between these diseases and Parkinson's disease is a resting tremor, balance difficulty, and the effectiveness of carpadopa/levodopa treatment. The question that needs to be answered is what happens that changes the above symptoms tocause the addition of tremors, and the suicide of dopamine neurons.

By the way, the above symptoms are listed to describe hyperparathyroid disease. The similarity between neurological, endocrinlogical, and other illnesses must be understood at the point where they begin to differentiate from each other. To continue to throw money at theories of how to fix the point of differentiation without knowing what causes the differentiation is not hard science. It is no better than looking for an answer in a Crystal ball.

Best Regards,
Vicky Lynn

[vertigo]

Hello jcitron
We have been so alone with our symptoms before we got the diagnose.
I was without power and I felt that I was a candy-jelly -girl inside ,when walking along the street. And this fatigue, I was ashamed ,because I said "no", did not want to go out, longing for my couch.
The cramp under my foot was diagnosed and operated, extirpating the nerve , the surgeon said it was a mistake. "The nerve is o.k." ,he said, showing me something that looked like a peace of spaghetti," keep seeking for the right diagnose".
My pretty foot have got two toes that hangs down and they can not move any more. Good bye high heals, welcome to the PD- facts, and my friends here in "the brain talk", you are great thinking persons who gives me comfort.






QUOTE=vlhperry;180123]Dear John,

If you were to search the history on this site of the number of people who have attempted to go over their pre-diagnosed medical history you will get many hits. The question that needs to be asked is how Parkinson's disease is formed. Many diseases imitate others.

Could you guess what this disease was strictly by its symptoms?


Loss of energy. Don't feel like doing much. Tired all the time.
Just don't feel well; don't quite feel normal. Hard to explain but just feel kind of bad.
Feel old. Don't have the interest in things that you used to.
Can't concentrate, or can't keep your concentration like in the past.
Depression.
Osteoporosis and Osteopenia.
Bones hurt; typically it's bones in the legs and arms but can be most bones.
Don't sleep like you used to. Wake up in middle of night. Trouble getting to sleep.
Tired during the day and frequently feel like you want a nap.
Spouse claims you are more irritable and harder to get along with (cranky, bitchy).
Forget simple things that you used to remember very easily.
Gastric acid reflux; heartburn; GERD.
Decrease in sex drive.
Thinning hair (predominately in older females).
Kidney Stones.
High Blood Pressure (sometimes mild, sometimes quite severe; up and down a lot).
Recurrent Headaches (usually patients under the age of 40).
Heart Palpitations (arrhythmias). Typically atrial arrhythmias.

These symptoms sound like almost any neurological illness. Lupus, Chronic fatigue, Parkinson's, etc. The difference between these diseases and Parkinson's disease is a resting tremor, balance difficulty, and the effectiveness of carpadopa/levodopa treatment. The question that needs to be answered is what happens that changes the above symptoms tocause the addition of tremors, and the suicide of dopamine neurons.

By the way, the above symptoms are listed to describe hyperparathyroid disease. The similarity between neurological, endocrinlogical, and other illnesses must be understood at the point where they begin to differentiate from each other. To continue to throw money at theories of how to fix the point of differentiation without knowing what causes the differentiation is not hard science. It is no better than looking for an answer in a Crystal ball.

Best Regards,
Vicky Lynn[/QUOTE]

[vertigo]

Hello again,
This is not the right thing to do , my hand was tired, quick reply-

Annelise