 |
 |
Gail wrote: Joe wrote: 'If PD, like life itself, begins at birth (as I think it does), then we're all at the "End-Stage" of both diseases." Joe, I would be very interested to know why you think PD begins at birth? I think it does too...please share. Joe, I would like to hear more about this, too. Thanks Judith Richards - Well Judith, I've thought alot about this.... In Parkinson's at 80% loss of dopamine "symptoms show"... So the body compensates well as the 10 loss..20..30.. 40..50..60..70% loss levels silently progress. If at 80% people are diagnosed and a conservative 10 years before dramatic deficites may enter the picture...it just makes sence that my Parkie sister who was Dx by me at age 51..has had Parkinson's for a L-O-N-G time...I can vividly remember my sister being "weak" or shall we say "motor impaired" since our teens... [unusually so compared to our peers, we are 22 month apart]. Edna was born healthy, had the usual childhood illnesses but was different from her 3 siblings [2 sisters and 1 brother] in one way...she was noticebly "weak" by her late teens. I remember vividly freshman year when we went to move her into her college dorm, I carried her box of books and suitcases and Edna carried her pillow and stuffed toys. She did not have the "normal" average strength that one would expect in a healthy teenager. I live with someone with Multiple Sclerosis and that [MS] is also a chronic progressive degenerative neurological disease. I see the accumulatived loss from clinically silent leisons in Wanda until her body's threshhold of compensation is crossed/collaspes and an obvious clinical symptom is seen...the human body/brain has emormous capacity to automatically click in and compensate for deficits/deficiences. My visual image of this is I'm walking along the beach holding a woven basket and gathering seashells and rocks and putting them into my basket...without notice the bottom of the basket lets loose and all my treasures fall to the ground in one sudden thud. And "thud" was the sound of my heart when I strolled across the parking lot with my sister one afternoon two years ago and noticed a gait change in her that I recognized and a gait typical of someone who had Parkinsons. Does this sound familiar to anyone else? Hugs, Gail