>Just got some new info on my dad.  It seems that at the time of his
>birth, the doctor was convinced that he would be stillborn and so
>extracted him from his mother with the use of some instrument which
>left a hole in his head and which took almost a year to fully heal,
>according to my grandmother.  And as if that isn't bad enough, he
>also had polio when he was quite young which was suspected for years
>as the cause of his muscle/nerve problems, i.e. poor balance, lack
>of feeling in his legs.
>
>Are there any others who have either experienced head injury and/or
>had polio who now also have PD?  Does anyone know of a correlation
>between polio and PD?  Thanks.
>
>Carrie Barrott
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>
Dear Carrie.
 
In answer to your poll regarding PD and polio,  I had polio at age 9.  My PD
was diagnosed at age 44 an I am now 50.  Of interest is the fact that my PD
started unilaterally in my left arm primarily.  My left leg has some rather
substantial paralysis due to the polio.  Putting this together  with the
fact that PD is known to occur after certain CNS viral infections I have
wondered whether there was a relationship.
 
Having said that my experience as a psychiatrist tells me that when
something bad happens it is only human nature to try and assign blame or at
least cause-  to try to make sense out of the unexplainable and often we
grab at straws to deal with the seeming arbitriness of it all.
 
But then while It is unlikely that we will ever know whether  polio is "to
blame" gor your father's PD or mine=  as a PD patient I'd sure as hell like
to know.
 
Philisophically yours,
 
Charlie
Charles T. Meyer
Madison, WI
 
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