CNN had a trailer yesterday that said that folks with PD had a worse time driving because they can't read signs.

I have this problem, especially after dark. I'm not that old (just turned 53), but have found for the last year or more that driving in overcast, rainy or night conditions made for great difficulties. Signs seem to be doubled.

My opthalmalogist said that I need to change to contacts instead of glasses. I used to love contacts, but every time I try them now, my vision is even worse.

Since I am not dx with PD, but with parkinsonism could my vision be a new sx? I also had a major freezing moment the other day. My neuro said that my sx shouldn't be getting any worse. I keep wondering if I have PD. (My shoulders aren't stiff, so that's why the parksinsonism dx).

Anyway, wondering if anyone saw the complete story about PD folks not being able to see signs and if anyone agrees with that as a sign of PD and not aging.

mama

My vision is becoming more blurred Mamafigure,but mainly with close up stuff.Night time driving has always been fairly stressful for me anyway what with the glare of the headlights,especially on major roads.But I too find signs worse to read at night. My optician told me my close up blurring was a natural ageing process but I wonder...I`m not sure how you could tell what proportion of degeneration is down to PD and what is to do with age.
I have to say that driving an automatic has made life much more simple. I have both automatic and manual and I only use the manual for taking the dogs out,short distance.
I had to have a medical in order to keep my licence .[In England we are on a 3 yearly review] The doctor said to me when I walked in..."you will have to tell me what is wrong with you because I haven`t a clue why you are here"
He wasn`t pleased that I had been put through this examination and found me to be well capable of continuing on the road.He tthen proceded to tell me about a wealthy old man who was considered to be healthy but who took most of the cars in a car park out with his rolls royce.Then got out of the car and didn`t have a clue where he was. Scary huh?
I pray that I will have a good few years of motoring left. Pd takes so much else away from you,that to be reliant on others for travel wou ld really suck.
I guess like everything else in our lives...we do it when we feel able to,and don`t when we can`t. Life with this condition continues to be an unknown quantity and prevents long term planning to some degree.We just don`t know if tomorrow we will be able to do what we can do today.
Ah well...

mama, do you see a general practice neuro OR a movement disorder neuro??

Unless it is a road I have traveled many time, I don't like driving at night in the best of weather. Add, rain or fog to that...yikes!! So, night driving is not something I do often, especially in bad weather.

I see a general neuro. I saw a movement neuro a few years back, but he didn't think that I had pd at the time.

mama

mama, would you consider seeing a movement disorder specialist now? It may be worth the trip to get an new opinion. Sounds like you could use one.

WOW! A coincidence!

Today's Alerts included three articles about how bad our driving is...and one was from ABC News/Reuters...on the news wire.

Sort of scary.

Parkinson's May Threaten Safety
Nov 23, 2006
ABC News - Health/Reuters
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=2676014

Parkinson's impairs driving skills
Wheels24.co.za - Johannesburg,South Africa
27/11/2006 10:43
http://www.wheels24.co.za/Wheels24/N...036361,00.html

Parkinson's sufferers less safe at the wheel
Victoria Times Colonist - Victoria,BC,Canada
Published: Monday, November 27, 2006
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimesc...9-3882d50da64f

I had been driving while under the influence of Requip for 8 years, and on more than one occasion, I had succumbed to sudden, without-warning sleep attacks. So far, I had not been in or caused any accidents, but I had come extremely close, the closest being a literal one-inch, perilously close avoidance of an 18 wheeler. The adrenaline rush served to keep me awake the rest of that trip. I knew how stupidly foolish I was every time it happened, but that didn't seem to stop me. I drove on.

One warm, summer evening in 2005, after having stayed too long in Lake Charles before moving here, I found myself in the position where I had to drive back home to Baton Rouge in order to tie up some loose ends before the final move. I was not looking forward to that 2 1/2 hour drive. It was really the last 45 minutes that had me concerned.

Between Lake Charles and Baton Rouge just east of Lafayette, there is a 19 mile section of expansion bridge that traverses Whiskey Bay, the Atchafalaya Basin and Henderson Swamp. The rhythmic thumpata, thumpata, thumpata of the tires as they roll across the expanse, coupled with the broken, white, arrow-straight dividing line are already hypnotic by nature. Adding Requip to the mix yields a formula for disaster... to be continued (tremor break) ...

Carolyn,
Yes, i would be willing to a movement specialist if one would see me.

From the looks of the reports, I bet that higher insurance rates are around the corner.

Question. Since driving is getting so hard at dusk, and I have to have the library open untill 7:00 two days a week, do you have any suggestions? I am the only librarian.

mama

I headed out. The first half of the trip was uneventful. I was wide awake, but the dreaded bridge loomed ahead. The speed limit dropped from 70 mph to 55 mph. About 2/3 of the way in, it felt as though everything was in slow motion, as that warm blanket of sleepiness enveloped me. Three times I awoke with a startled gasp as I jerked my van back into the right lane. After the third time, I looked in my rearview mirror. I must have been doing worse than I thought, for all of the bridge traffic had accumulated a safe 100 yards behind me. In front of me I could see the end of the bridge. I drove on.

When my wheels touched the solid roadway I emitted a sigh of relief, but then I saw in front of me that several cars and an 18 wheeler had pulled off the road. People were peering over an embankment. Someone had undoubtedly run off the road, but the 18 wheeler was blocking my view. As I passed the large truck something strange happened...I found myself back on the bridge with my van straddling both lanes, traffic stacked up behind me, and the end of the bridge was in sight...again.

I was disoriented. Was this real? Were the previous minutes real? Had I been dreaming? Did I have an accident and was being given another chance at life? To this day I do not know the answer, but I do know that I no longer take those same risks. I finally woke up.

michael

It's the same in UK,
Angela.