The suggestion (made by several members) of acute traumatic personal loss
as precedent to parkinsonism symptoms obviation prompted several more
responses including this just messaged:
 
From: David Ledgere <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Re: parkinson's disease - causative factors (fwd)
I lost my son to Leukemia in 1991 (anniversary coming up), underwent a
divorce in 1992 (yes, related), and was diagnosed with PD in 1995.
 
My thoughts about this included voicing to my wife, Nancy, a couple of days
ago  that my own experience may also fit this pattern.  I have "concluded
tentatively" that the automobile impacting our 6 year old daughter and
killing her in 1978 brought me to an attitude that living any longer did
not matter to me in the least.  That followed emotions of extreme anger
about the carelessness of the driver.  I was an audio witness.  I heard the
impact, immediately went from the front yard (where I was looking at the
beautiful harvest moon) to the intersection about 100 feet away; and saw
Natalie a long way from where she had been struck in the crosswalk. Nancy's
daughter Julie was there - unhurt. Julie's  friend had been hurt but not
fatally.  She was hit in one leg.  The two daughters had gone to get
Julie's friend - and were returning home to have ice cream and birthday
cake because it was September 16,1978, Julie's 15th birthday.
 
My thinking is that the extended depressed attitude which was where I lived
for some months was damaging my mental health - and affecting my brain.
Nancy's four children from her first marriage and my son by prior marriage
were not as significant to me as was our child, Natalie.  It was some years
before life was worth living again.  We attended a Marriage Encounter
weekend and benefitted from that and the active role we played in the local
ME organization for ten or fifteen years.  My weight had been in the 205 to
210 pounds range since college graduation in 1958 through 1978.  It went up
to near 220 pounds by August 1981 when we joined ME.  My Parkinsonian
symptoms were minor dystonia muscle pains of the neck, tongue, jaws, and
sore arm when writing for long sessions, handwriting changes and
difficulty.   I had also been asked about what was wrong with my right foot
or leg by friends.
 
The right arm cramping pain was worsening and I overcame my reluctance to
seek comprehensive medical examination to find out what was wrong,  We
spent three days in Sansum Clinic in Santa Barbara, CA getting complete
medical check-ups of Nancy and I.  The diagnosis was PD.
 
This is already long, but I will add that my father's heart attack in
October 1987 leading to his death in December from infections complications
of heart by-pass surgery done concurrently with stomach ulcer emergency
surgery was stressful for me; but, the agony my mother experienced spending
every day in hospitals with my father put her into depression from which
she never recovered.  Her withdrawal and failure to accept the loss
precipitated Alzheimer's Disease in my opinion.  One of her brothers had
died after 8 years suffering.  She is now in a nursing facility.
 
The parents of a friend and co-worker are another example with which I am
very familiar:  Bill and Mabel lived in their home until Bill got sick and
unable to get them to restaurants to eat.  Mabel could no longer cook due
to Alzheimer's and Bill never learned how.  They were convinced by my
friend to come live with him and his wife so that they could take care of
them.  In brief, they were frail, Bill and demented, Mabel who lived to be
company for each other for another 8 years before dying one week apart.
 
Perhaps a correlation - multiple regression analysis - of this sort of data
would yield significant results.  Has such a study been attempted?
reported? Is it worth doing some data gathering?
 
ron      1936, dz PD 1984
Ronald F. Vetter <[log in to unmask]>
http://www1.ridgecrest.ca.us/~rfvetter/