[reverett123]

That is, do you startle easily?

In my case, yes, there are times when the sound of my wife dropping a pencil onto a table from less than 12 inches height has sent a jolt through me like lightning. Similar things happen roughly once a week.

Anybody else experience similar jolts?

[ZucchiniFlower]

Yes! When anyone comes into my room at work, I jump. They actually try not to startle me, but it always happens, no matter what they do.

It's risky when I'm working in the hood, but I'm usually able to freeze the position of my hands, even though my body 'jumps', so I don't drop or spill things.

But it really unnerves me and sometimes upsets me.

When it comes to sounds by themselves, I'm usually okay with that. It's action that startles me more than sound.

[Stitcher]

Yes, to the point that my daughter will say, "Stop that!"

Like I can not do it anymore.

[aftermathman]

Neil.
<filling in text as the msg is too short to be posted, ho hum>

[EmptyNest68]

Yes..."jolt of lightning" describes it perfectly. An over exagerrated startle reflex. Do you think it's from the disease or from the medication? I am taking carbidopa/levodopa 25/100 4x daily.

[rosebud]

but not always...just when I'm kinda stressed to begin with. You might want to consider an anti-anxiety drug, as the depths of your overly anxious brain is where is comes from. Sort of a mental burp!

[jcitron]

I do it too and I thought I was the only one! I always did it long before the onset of PD so this makes me wonder if it is the disease. I've even been startled after staring at the person for a few seconds like a delayed reaction!

Where I work there is only a handful of us in a large building so I've trained everyone to knock on my cube before entering. It helps some, but I still jump once in awhile.

John

[reverett123]

As some of you know, I champion an idea of PD developed with Anne Frobert, MD, that is different than the mainstream. I know you are all shocked.

Basically, two things occur in the womb that set the stage for young onset PD. One is exposure to bacterial toxins due to the mother having an infection - vaginosis is one example that afflicts one woman in ten. The second is a similar exposure to the chemicals associated with the mother's stress system - cortisol in particular.

Now, if it was just those two factors then there would be PWP everywhere you turned. So, there are some "ifs" that affect things to increase the odds for each individual. IF the exposure occurs at the time certain parts are being formed. IF both types of exposure occur. IF the exposures coincide with poor placental performance. If all those things occur, then you are a candidate for the next step in the process, such as exposure to pesticides or heavy metals, further stress, or further infection. This gets really involved but I am working on a webpage that trys to make it understandable at
http://www.parkinsonsonline.org/whatis.html
Still very much under construction so excuse the mess.

The reason that I was wondering about the startle reflex is that that is one of the effects of the prenatal stress, at least in rats. We become sensitized to our own stress hormones and a little shot of adrenaline goes a long way. The same chemicals destroy neurons and prevent repair. Meanwhile, the equivalent chemistry of the immune system is also killing the brain.

The importance of this is that if it is true, then we are not suffering from a neurological disease. Instead, we are dealing with a immuno-endocrine disorder that is doing damage to the nervous system.

And that means that neuroscience, which knows little of the immune or endocrine systems, is never going to find a solution because they don't understand the problem.

[super1950]

I don't have pd but I do get the lightning shock if startled. It goes from my elbows to hands and sometimes from knees to feet. My mom has pd, and my first cousin on her side of the family was also diagnosed last year. Makes me wonder if I am destined too.

[rosebud]

can't we just say we weren't lucky?

My question is: Now that we got it, what are we gonna do about/with/for/to
it?

Maybe we are the lucky ones and just don't know it yet! (highly unlikely I do admit)

J