| Parkinson's disease is an extremely difficult disease to | | | | that I started to panic about not being able to reach |
| diagnose. I was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in | | | | my destination even though I could still swim. |
| 2002, but looking back I have had it since about 1990 | | | | SHUFFLING FEET |
| or earlier. I will go over six of the many symptoms of | | | | The next thing that was noticed by people that |
| Parkinson's. | | | | knew me said I was starting to shuffle my feet |
| LOSS OF SMELL | | | | when I walked. |
| The first one was the loss of smell and the doctors | | | | All of these symptoms were very slow in developing |
| tested me for a brain tumor and when none was | | | | and its only when you look back that you realized |
| found they said everything was OK. At he time they | | | | what they were. When I was diagnosed with the |
| could not tell me what had caused the loss of smell. | | | | disease it was a process of elimination of other |
| DIFFICULTY WRITING | | | | possible illnesses. It was found when I was |
| The second one was I started to have difficulty with | | | | questioned by a clinic of neurological doctors. This |
| my signature and my writing became smaller. | | | | was what I was surprised about in that I was given |
| I was noted for very poor hand writing all my life so | | | | dopamine in the form of leveocarb to take three |
| I thought was probably age related. | | | | times a day and they told me if there was an |
| CHANGE IN VOICE | | | | improvement in my symptoms then I had Parkinson's |
| The third one which was very subtle was that my | | | | disease and if there was no change then I didn't |
| voice became softer and softer. People started to | | | | have it. Evidently there is no test that they can do |
| ask me to repeat what I had said, but it didn't | | | | to tell if one has this disease or not. |
| register that much as my voice was naturally soft. | | | | Presently I am in a University health center |
| PROBLEMS WITH BALANCE | | | | Parkinson's disease research program and I have |
| The fourth one was I started to have problems with | | | | learned very much about this disease in the last 3 to |
| balance when going down stairs with no railing. As I | | | | 4 years. Fortunately I have been able to stabilize the |
| have always disliked heights it didn't dawn on me | | | | disease with the proper medication. |
| something was wrong when I found that they | | | | I will discuss in a later article other aspects of |
| started to bother me. | | | | Parkinson's and the results of the reasearch program |
| SUDDEN PANIC | | | | that I have been on. |
| The next one occurred when I went swimming in | | | | |