Altho I don't know what caused the shut down, I've always "known" that early menopause [mid-30s after birth of second child] and a dx of hypoactive thyroid around the same time,[also a shut down] was related to my PD, with symptoms appearing by my late 30s. Here's some confirmation at last.

Reproductive Factors May Protect Women From Parkinson's Disease

A large new study provides evidence that longer exposure to the body's own hormones may protect women from Parkinson's disease. The study was released and will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 61st Annual Meeting in Seattle, April 25 to May 2, 2009.


http://www.michaeljfox.org/newsEvent...cle.cfm?ID=463

paula

Thanks, for this, Paula. Nobody ever asked me, but the point at which the gait and rigidity issues I had been developing for about six years became intolerable to live with (at which point I for the third time approached my doctor for referral to a specialist) coincided closely with menopause, which was otherwise symptomless. It felt, and still does, as though a womanly and very personal protection had been mislaid, letting in a very unwelcome guest that had been knocking on the door! Hormonal connection - yes, I would say so...... I was 53 and felt a hundred, looked like a grumpy old woman, couldn't tie the laces on my converse, and my son had to help me up from my chair. If I doubt my meds, or my dx, I remember that time, and thank the heavens that there ARE treatments for PD no matter that they are flawed and imperfect.

I have rigidity, oh so slow-ness, internal and jaw tremor but no hand tremor, a raft of other less easily definable problems, or ones that I prefer not to discuss here . Wonder if menopause is part of a pattern with the old rigid akinetic subset that isn't mentioned so often these days.

Thanks again
Lindy

I am afraid I don't fit into this study. My fertile reproductive years lasted for 41 years and I had two pregnancies. Parkinson symptoms started in mid 40's well before menopause at 55. I do take hormone replacement now and although it doesn't count after menopause it sure does help.

It took me 20 years [embarrassingly] to look up the causes and symptoms of early menopause, now called POF - premature ovarian failure. As you'll see here - the number one non-surgical cause is autoimmune disorder and hypothyroidism is related. My health went to hell in a handbasket in the 80s. Rick, I never disagreed, but now I better understand the need for endocrinologists in the PD mix of health professionals. All of my doctors have heard my story...but I should have been more involved with my own health. Of course, back then, I was having babies and rasiing them. Never suspected Parkinson's disease until motor symtoms began.

Lindy, while menopause might be bad for pd at any age, I had early menopause in my mid 30's and that is what the study is saying, that the longer you have your own hormones, reduces the risk of getting pd.

http://www.earlymenopause.com/causes.htm

paula

While PD symptoms started in earnest when I was 46 and dx wasnt till some years later, this study is still relevant to me as I had amenorrhea from 16 - 36 years, not solid but many years only ovulating about 2-3 times. Currently have two conditions that are auto-immune, these and PD are familial. One is vitiligo which is not linked to PD in the west, but there is an old study that links it to PD in India. Interestingly vitiligo, which is absolutely painless and only cosmetically difficult to live with, is caused by apoptosis of the melanin producing cells in the skin........ Paula, I absolutely agree with the need for the inclusion of endocrinology etc. Statistically I should not fit into this at all, wrong age etc, but we are real people and our bodies do all sorts of things.... we dont always fit the mould...
Lindy