Hello Friends,

I would like to introduce myself. My name is Ernie Peters, I am
53,  half English half Greek, wonderfully happily married for 33
years, no children and my wife and I have lived in Leeds  for 21
years.

My first message to the web was very short as I had not read
your previous letters in the logs and did not want to bore
people with details of myself or bother them with questions.  I
was also new to the net and it was actually my very first
message out on E-mail.  However, on discovering and reading
peoples mail in previous logs I realised how friendly people
were and how willing to help, encourage and support others.

In fact my first memo may not have got through as apparently I
sent it to the old address and Joe Bruman kindly let me have the
new address.  So, I'll try again and promise you wont get over
burdened with long messages in the future because as my mother
(who lives in Limassol Cyprus) will tell you, I'm terrible at
settling down to write letters.  However there are points about
how I first started with PD that might strike a chord with
others.  Here is the outline.

Oct 93.   We returned from our holiday in Cyprus visiting my
mother without a hint of a problem.  At the time I worked for
the Inland Revenue and I was immediately placed in post carrying
extra responsibilities and a much higher workload.  Many changes
and restructures were afoot and life was very hectic.  I enjoyed
the job and the challenge but knew really there should have been
more help.

Mid Nov 93.  Went to the doctor with a minor hand tremble on
reaching out with my right hand.  I didn't want to go as I
thought it was through using a mouse too much but my wife made
me go.  Doctor did not want to hazard a diagnosis as yet but
detected signs in my right leg as well and referred me to a
Neurologist.

Mid Dec 93.  All conditions worse.  Right arm being carried bent
as if in a sling, balance affected on walking, writing very
small and spidery.

End Dec 93.  Saw the Consultant.  Diagnosed PD.  Said I would
still live another  30 years (this was good! I had only expected
another 20 years without PD) Ordered more tests which confirmed
diagnosis.  Started Madopar CR 125 mg twice daily.
Had a reasonable Christmas as was expecting a worse disease than
PD.

Jan 94.  Still at work all conditions still worsening.

Jan 24th.  Went in to work to finish something important.  Felt
exhausted, weak.  Finished work and at 2 p.m. collapsed
exhausted on first aid room bed and took 2 hours till fit enough
to go home. Even the following day too exhausted to move from
settee and took antibiotics as doctor thought possible I had
bladder infection. This did not appear to be the case but as I
only have 1 kidney doctor was being careful.

Feb-March 94.  Still at home, alone during the day.  All
symptoms still getting worse could not walk very well, could not
guarantee to correctly key our electronic alarm keypad. Dreaded
walking down the stairs each morning expecting legs to be worse.
Started looking at things like wheelchair access to the house
and worrying about how my wife would cope. My employers agreed
to speed through retirement with pension on health grounds.  In
a black despair so deep you could wade through it like black
treacle.  Consultant added Eldepryl 10mg once daily to
prescription and changed me from madopar to sinemet CR twice
daily.

End March 94.  My wife ( one year younger than me) asked and was
agreed  a special retirement  package from work to look after
me.

Apr-Sept  94.   With my wife home with me, we started going for
short walks at first and slowly increasing.  My mood improved
all my symptoms started improving.  By August able to walk about
8 miles cross country without problem and writing and hand
almost completely normal.  Starting to think was it really PD I
had?  Am I taking these tablets for nothing?  All this extra
time with my wife was wonderful.

Oct 94 - Jan 96.  Pretty good really, did almost everything
without problem, really enjoying life whilst realising the
future was uncertain.  Found all symptoms were worsened with any
emotional flare up such as an argument but even more so by a
more continuous worry at the back of your mind, i.e., if my
mother had a problem.  Found a funny thing in that at the time
of the emotional disturbance I often coped well but had a
delayed reaction and paid for it about 2 or 3 days later.

Jan 96.  Consultant suggested I try without Eldepryl because of
research findings about mortality.  Switched to 5mg Eldepryl for
28 days then stopped.

At first great no problem at all.  Then after about 30-40 days
increased "off" periods about 4-5 hours after sinemet CR.  Still
trying to maintain on only 2 sinemet CR twice daily though feel
the need for some in the early afternoon.

I am keeping an anxious eye on Eldepryl updates and monitoring
my progress so as to make an informed judgment with my
consultant at a later date.

I hope I have not  over filled your mail boxes but wondered if
anyone else had an experience where stress or overwork seemed to
be a contributory factor and anyone who was on Eldepryl and came
off it.

To me, the way people communicate and share problems from so far
apart is really heart warming and seems to bring out all that is
good in the human race.  There are many people who knock the net
but they should read some of your logs to see some of the good
that it can do.  I learned more about PD in a few hours reading
your old letters than in the last 2 years.

Oh, talk about laughter being the best medicine, Some of your
jokes had the tears streaming down my eyes.

Don't forget I'm a novice to the net so please feel  free to
correct or suggest if I do anything wrong or silly.

All for now, glad to be "on board".



Ernie Peters ([log in to unmask])