Rick,
I can only speak for myself. After almost six years of symptoms and
medications my square peg still doesn't fit in either a PD or a PD+ round
hole. Therefore, what I have to say might not be pertinent for you.
Personally, I've wanted to discuss the subject of precursors with our PD
family for some time. Because PD manifests itself so differently in each
individual, I don't believe we can put definite precursors in a tightly
closed bottle, that says, "one size fits all", to everyone who wants
knowledge re the subject.
One thing I do know and that is that not all PDers or PD+ers suffer from
RLS.
However, for me, whatever my category, RLS is on my list but BIG TIME. I
inherited the darlin' from my father and his ancestors (I'll have my say
with them in particular someday). From the time I became a square peg,
my legs have not only been traveling to China by way of the floor boards,
they have ached and pained one hundred fold. Even a lowly sheet often
feels like lead and becomes unbearable!
Also on my list of precursors is the Epstein Barr Virus, the lean of the
body left or right and sight problems when there is nothing wrong with my
eyes. For me, the inability to blink is somehow related (I can now blink
some but still have very dry eyes. Refresh is my sidekick.).
Three months before possible diagnosis, I was heading home facing the
west. My eyes were protected by prescription sunglasses. I couldn't get
away from the sun. It hit my eyes so strongly and seared so strongly
that my eyes literally closed before I could pull over to the side of the
road. I count this among my challenging experiences. It was close to
noon when I called my friend the optometrist who in turn sent me to his
friend the opthamologist who was missing his lunch. Boy, did he ever get
angry at me! "Well, blankety, blankety, blank, she doesn't even blink!"
Like I knew what was going on!
As I think about this subject, I can add to my list an accident as a
child that left two indentations in the frontal area of my skull. At
another time, I fell and hit my head heavily against a radiator. I think
of balance problems obvious only to me that prevented me from riding a
bike or from ever using a balance beam successfully. Was this due to my
ambidexterity, my injuries or to something else? Having dealt with head
trauma, I am fully aware that injuries suffered many years ago can come
to the surface years later. Surprisingly, not all physicians believe or
consider this possible.
Look, too, at spinal injuries received over the years. A beautiful
Appaloosa mare on a gallop spooked a standing, patient sixteen hundred
pound foundation mare who then ran forward and hit me in the chest with
all her power. This sent me to the rock-hard ground one August many years
ago. I fractured my spine, but she saved my life by jumping over me.
What part does this play in what is wrong with me now? Inquisitively, I
ask, "How long and how far can this mechanism we call me or
you be sustained, and how do these experiences relate to PD and/or
PD+"?
In the long run, there are many of us out here who may not really belong
to a category, but who, because of like symptoms, have found a home with
the PD family. If my offerings assist, all the better. If they don't,
perhaps some of the other family members will share their precursors.
It's possible we will generate some very interesting medical
information.
E of the headdress
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