After my diagnosis of PD in 1992 at the age of 41, I read
enough about the illness to understand what I would be dealing with but did not
buy into the rate of progression predicted. I have done very well these 8 years,
especially as a single parent, self-employed writer. I even finished a Ph.D. in
psychology during this time. My interest is renewed in finding out how others
have progressed after diagnosis. I want to locate a database, if it exists, of
actual progression of indiviuals not projections by doctors. Also, PD patients
have such a variety of clusters of symptoms, I would like to find information
showing the differences in actual progression by these subgroups. My symptoms
are mainly muscle rigidity without tremor. I am disturbed by
doctors singing doom and gloom when many can have joyful, poductive lives like I
have. Had I beleived the initial picture, I would have given up long ago. There
is much hope to be shared.
