Dear Yvonne--- please don't be so hard on yourself---even neurologists
"miss symptoms" and misdiagnose PD. And it is believed that PD is
present, slowly progressing, for many years before it reaches a stage where
it can be diagnosed. It is good that you will be seeing a specialist
(hopefully a Movement Disorder Specialist) as PD has some variations and
can be hard to Dx. Also, many PWPs take antidepressants, and the SSRIs are
OK with PD.
I'm sure you'll get many responses, and I hope they will help. Meanwhile,I
would suggest you join CARE, the sublist for CGs of PWPs. As I just
posted the instructions to the list, I'll fwd them to you offlist. Here is
a place to start re: resources in the UK=
In the United Kingdom--Contact the Parkinson's Disease Society. This is an
excellent
organization with many local support groups throughout the country. They
have a wide variety of programs (both educational AND social) on the
national and local levels. They can be contacted at:
Parkinson's Disease Society
Mary Baker - Executive Director
215 Vauxhall Bridge Road
London, SW1V 1EJ
UK
tel: 020-7931-8080
Helpline: 080-8800-0303
email: [log in to unmask]
You wrote:
>i believe my mother has PD and at present we are waiting to see a specialist.
>however, i feel devastated that i didn't pick it up earlier (my father and i
>think now that she has had it for about five years). i am a psychologist and
>when she started suffering from severe depresssion several years ago i
>organised mental health services for her which have been totally unhelpful in
>alleviating her condition. it was only when a few months ago that she started
>walking oddly and began to stumble regularly that we realised something else
>was wrong. even then i ignored it hoping it would go away. it seems her
>antidepressants may have made things worse.
>i feel powerless and terribly guilty and depressed. at the same time i feel
>extremely worried about what she is going through and desperate to get the
>diagnosis and some medication for her.
>has anyone else missed the symptoms like this? i can't believe her GP and her
>psychiatrist missed them too. i'd appreciate someone to talk to who has been
>through a similar experience and am trying to find out about self-help and
>support groups for my parents who both live in Leicester in England.
>many thanks
>Yvonne Webb
Camilla Flintermann, CG for Peter 82/70/55
Oxford, Ohio
<[log in to unmask]>
on PDWebring at
http://members.tripod.lycos.nl/genugten/flinterm.htm
"Ask me about the CARE list for
Caregivers of Parkinsonians ! "
And visit the CARE webring at
http://www.crosswinds.net/~caregivers/index.html
