Joseph,
Has anyone done a BP and HR readings- laying, sitting and standing ??
There should be researchers there who study parkinsons and autonomic
failure or autonomic dysfunction.
sounds stupid but have u had blood work done recently?
magnissium, calcium, potasium , creatine levels?

Joseph Essertier wrote:

>Hello.  My name is Joseph Essertier.  I am an American
>living in Japan.  I teach English and comparative culture
>at a college in Nagano City, Japan, where the Winter
>Olympics were a few years ago.  I also do research on
>modern Japanese literature.
>
>I subscribed to this list because i wanted to ask some
>questions to people who know about and have experience
>with Parkinson's.  Experience has taught me that patients
>usually know some things about their own health problem
>that their doctors don't know or understand.
>
>I have not been diagnosed with Parkinson's, or even tested
>for it, but i just started to wonder about this disease
>the other day.  I didn't know anything about the symptoms,
>except for the classic tremors that one sees in famous
>people with PD in the mass media.  I just read about the
>symptoms on the internet for the first time two days ago
>and was surprised that i have many or most of the
>symptoms.  I thought it was a disease that elderly people
>got -- only elderly people -- and that the tremors were
>very extreme, like the whole arm shaking.
>
>I read this article yesterday:
>http://www.umm.edu/patiented/articles/what_parkinsons_disease_what_causes_it_000051_1.htm
>
>In that article, the parts that caught my attention the
>most, that describe the kind of neurological problems i
>have been having are:
>
>
>*       Tremors may first be only occasional, starting in one
>finger and spreading over time to involve the whole arm.
>The tremor is often rhythmic, 4 to 5 cycles per second,
>and frequently causes an action of the thumb and fingers
>known as pill rolling. [This is the first time i have
>heard this expression, "pill rolling," but it describes
>very well one of the first things that started to worry me
>-- about 4 years ago.  I get that in many different
>fingers, but mostly fingers in my right hand.  I get
>those, but i also get faster side to side twitches in my
>fingers, especially during electrical storms, which we get
>a lot of in Japan.  Once in awhile all the fingers in my
>right hand will start to curl up, like my hand is trying
>to make a fist but failing.  I notice this sometimes while
>i am standing.  Once in awhile i feel embarassed when i'm
>standing and talking to someone and this happens, and i
>flex my hand to make it stop].
>
>
does that happen only when u stand?

>I also get what i call "twitches" on my lips, eyelids, in
>my toes, arms, legs, and other places.  They only happen
>when the muscle involved is at rest.  I notice them the
>most when i'm in bed, either when first waking or going to
>sleep.
>
>*Muscles may become rigid ( akinesia). These symptoms
>often begin in the legs and neck.
>[I have suffered from a very stiff neck for the last 6 or
>7 years, but what surprises me is how on some days, it is
>perfectly fine, with no stiffness at all.  I have tried
>all kinds of stretching, with no luck.  I also experience
>rigidity in my foot, where i cannot pull the foot/toes
>upward, esp. when riding a bike.  And i have some rigidity
>in my fingers sometimes].
>
>
where in ur neck?

>*Intestinal motility (the ability to swallow, digest, and
>eliminate) may slow down, causing eating problems and
>constipation.
>[In the last year i have developed problems with
>constipation, for the first time in my life.  The worst
>has been this autumn.  My lower abdomen has been hurting
>when i first wake up each day lately.  I have had trouble
>swallowing for the last few years, to the point where i
>don't start eating unless i have something to drink close
>by].
>

>[I have all of the following]:
>*       Orthostatic hypotension. Some patients experience a
>sudden drop in blood pressure when they stand. This can
>cause dizziness and fainting.
>
what are ur BP and HR??

>*       Changes in sensations of temperature, hot flashes, and
>excessive sweating. My wife often says during the summer
>she can't believe how much i am perspiring.
>

>*       Leg disorders. Cramps and burning sensations in the legs
>are common.
>
>I'm not sure if one would call it depression because
>i'm usually pretty content with my life and everything,
>but once in awhile i start crying about things that are
>not a big deal and the crying becomes uncontrollable,
>where i want to stop but cannot.  (My son recently said to
>me, to my surprise, that he had never seen me cry -- not
>that i think that real men don't cry.  I'm just not the
>crying type.)  The first time that happened was about 5
>years ago while watching a silly soap opera.  I don't
>watch soap operas and watch very little TV in general.
>Later i could not explain to myself why that soap opera
>got to me.  I don't remember what the story was about at
>all now.  I have had a number of similar crying bouts
>since then, where later i cannot understand why i was so
>upset.
>
>Most of the other symptoms in this list i guess i
>experience but am less sure about -- either i'm not sure
>if my symptom is being described or if mine is not that
>bad.  For example, "shuffling."  I am not sure if it looks
>like shuffling.  My stride seems shorter than it used to
>be, and i sometimes feel a little difficulty in pulling my
>leg upwards as i lift my feet for a step forward.  That
>could just be tiredness though.  But i have been making a
>conscious effort over the last year or so to pull my legs
>up higher and take longer strides.  I have always been the
>type who walks fast, but recently i am surprised to find
>people on the street walking past me, where i am the slow
>one.  And i have had trouble with stairs for the last 7
>years or so.  About 7 years ago, i remember a friend, who
>was in her late 50s, say to me as we were walking up the
>stairs, "Come on old man!  Why are you so out of breath."
>I have always been into exercising and sports -- riding my
>bike everywhere, running, baseball, and other other things
>-- and always strong and healthy, so i was surprised to
>hear her say this, and similar things have happened many
>times since on stairs.  I always have trouble keeping up
>with the other train passengers while walking up stairs in
>train stations in Japan now.  I'm 37 years old by the way.
>
>
>My thumbs twitch a lot at times, always moving in the
>direction of the other fingers.
>
>Somewhere i read something about excessive salivating as
>one of the PD symptoms.  I have had trouble with that a
>number of times in the last few years.  This autumn i have
>had two periods of really extreme salivating, both for
>about 2 weeks.  I had some sores in my mouth during the
>2nd, latest period, and my dermatologist said the sores
>would heal naturally.  It happens a lot in fall here to
>people.  So that may or not be the same as the other
>salivating, which i don't remember being accompanied by
>sores in my mouth.  A month or two ago i woke up one day
>with my pillow case wet from salivating while sleeping.
>No sores then.
>
>Fatigue, of course.  I have gone through a few periods of
>extreme exhaustion, that wouldn't be solved by rest.
>Three summers ago i had the summer from hell, where i
>would go to work at 9 AM, leave for home at 4 PM sharp
>(yes, really easy hours), take a nap until dinner time, go
>to sleep after dinner, and wake up the next day at 8 AM.
>All i did was sleep and rest, but was still tired.  That
>lasted for at least 2 months.  It was a very hot, humid
>summer, but i had been through many such summers in Japan
>before.  What was so special about that summer?  I still
>don't know, but i think the last two summers have not been
>a problem because i changed my diet.  I have a near
>vegetarian diet now with mostly whole grains.  I really
>avoid white bread and white rice now because of the
>constipation.
>
>
What do u do for Protein?

>I was diagnosed with seborrheic dermatitis the other day.
>That's what got me started thinking about Parkinson's
>because i read that people with Parkinson's get it a lot.
>I have suffered from this for at least the last 5 years,
>but never went to the dermatologist about it.  I thought
>it was just dandruff, which i guess it is, but i have
>major flaking or scaling on both sides of my nose, and all
>the other typical places.  That has just become steadily
>worse.  Only in the last year did it really start to
>bother me, where my head and face were incredibly itchy.
>
>I have another skin condition, which used to be called
>"neurodermatitis," which i know because my grandmother had
>it -- she always wore white cotton gloves because of it --
>but is also called "housewife dermatitis" in Japanese.  I
>can't remember the doctor's name for it at the moment.
>It's like psoriasis.
>
>Three years ago i was diagnosed with "panic disorder."
>I'm not sure if i really have it because usually there is
>a psychological component.  I have had about 5 panic
>attacks in the last 5 years, the first one on a packed
>"bullet train," but i rode trains hundreds of times after
>that without fear, and never had another attack on the
>train, which is the typical place for panic disorder
>patients to get them in Japan.  (The trains are very
>crowded and there is less oxygen, so...)  The doctor gave
>me the equivalent of Xanax, in case i had another attack,
>but i never took it.  He recommended that i take another
>drug every day, but i said no thanks.  I avoid drugs of
>all kinds.  If i can live with the symptoms, i'd rather do
>that than face the side effects of the drugs.
>
>Finally, one problem i had that might relate is epilepsy.
>I had grand mal seizure(s) -- not sure if it was one
>seizure or more than one -- at the age of 3.  I took
>phenobarbitol for a year or so, until my parents became
>worried about how drowsy and unfocused i was, and took me
>off of it.  Never had another grand mal after that, but
>was tested for it in high school, and the doctor said i
>was still having petit mals, which i occasionally noticed.
>
>This is a very long-winded introductory message, but i
>guess my question is, "Do you think that these symptoms
>are serious enough that i should go to a neurologist?"  I
>already did go once before, to a neurologist in Japan.
>That was about 5 years ago, when my symptoms were not as
>bad as they are now.  He said that i was having these
>twitches in my fingers, toes, and face -- this was before
>the really strong ones, like all my fingers starting to
>curl up, or the time my whole right hand wobbled back and
>forth -- because i was just really "tired."  He
>recommended rest and some tranquilizers.  Again, i said no
>thanks to the tranquilizers.
>
>I went to cardiologists twice because the panic attacks
>made me think i had a heart condition.  My heart is very
>healthy though.
>
>The only doctor who actually helped me was a doctor in the
>States.  Without actually seeing me in person, he guessed
>that i would benefit from omega oils?  Fatty acids.  So i
>take cod liver oil now.  I also take, on his
>recommendation, vitamin B complex and magnesium
>supplements.  The magnesium really relaxes me and helps me
>to sleep through the night.  I was waking up too early for
>awhile.  Thanks to him, i think, the twitches have
>actually been not as bad during the last 2 years, as they
>were during the previous 2 years.  New symptoms have
>appeared and some other things have become worse, but the
>twitching, esp. "twitching" of my heart (panic attacks),
>has become much less frequent.
>
>One other thing i did, upon the recommendation of some MS
>patients on the internet, was have all my mercury fillings
>removed and replaced with composite resin.  I had about 8
>"silver fillings," which are like 50% mercury and only 35%
>silver.  That seemed to improve things a little, but
>nothing dramatic.
>
>I am wondering if i should consider Parkinson's and maybe
>try going to a neurologist once more, maybe a different
>one here in Japan, or to one in the States the next time i
>am there.  I have read a little about Alzheimer's.  An
>expert on that disease on an MS site recommended that i
>read a certain book on Alzheimer's, which i assume was
>because he thought i might be a candidate for that.  I
>think i had low blood sugar problems, which seem to have
>gone away as i increased the amount of chlorophyl-rich
>foods i eat and started eating brown rice.  Low blood
>sugar is a cause of Alzheimer's, as is mercury.  As
>mentioned, i considered MS.  I also read about ALS.  At
>this point, i don't know what the problem is and i am just
>avoiding neurotoxins, eating healthy and safe food,
>getting moderate exercise and rest.  That is my strategy
>in a nutshell.  I'm doing okay, except for certain
>inconveniences and some pain once in awhile, but i am
>thinking that the sooner i understand what the cause of
>all these symptoms is, or what the causes are, the better.
>
>Thank you.
>Joseph
>
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