news article about successful early DBS at age 50
 

tremor that wasn't being reduced by drugs big factor, had it done at 50, diagnosed at 47. is this a trend? slowing progression not mentioned.
he must have great insurance or money!

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2014/j...#axzz34cevjoRs


Brooke’s case is unusual because he was diagnosed at age 47, putting him among the 4 percent of Parkinson’s patients who get the life altering news before age 50.

That’s one reason the Poulsbo businessman’s path to neurological rebirth has been a winding one. He was initially misdiagnosed with a condition called essential tremor because the doctor thought he was too young to have Parkinson’s. The medication didn’t stop his shaking but did lower his blood pressure enough to make him dizzy.

A second doctor quickly diagnosed the Parkinson’s but advised against drug treatment because the medications typically lose effectiveness after seven to 10 years. A chance meeting with a friend’s daughter led him to a doctor at Swedish who came up with a more aggressive pharmaceutical treatment plan.

As owner of T&C Photo Studio and Lab and an active community volunteer — he resigned as president of the North Kitsap Babe Ruth baseball board the day before he had brain surgery — Brooke’s private medical challenges have played out on a public stage. Well-known throughout North Kitsap from 30 years of taking school and sports team portraits, people noticed his symptoms and commented on them.

One woman asked if his feet felt like they were encased in concrete. When he said they didn’t, she answered with a gloomy prediction: “They will.”

But another woman who observed his symptoms at a photo shoot offered him a lifeline, telling him of her success with a DBS implanted three years earlier.

Swedish turned Brooke down at first because he hadn’t had his diagnosis for five years. But he successfully appealed, pointing out that he’d had Parkinson’s symptoms for several years before he was diagnosed. More importantly, the disease and side effects from the medication were starting to affect his livelihood.

He was falling asleep at his desk. Driving was risky. His tremor was distracting to photography subjects and he had to have an extra employee on hand to do simple tasks involving manual dexterity, such as collecting order forms and payment.

Read more: http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2014/j...#ixzz34cgZykNI
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