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Maggie you did not say how old you are. I am not an expert on PD but I do know that PD patients should get exercise daily (as someone on the list serve said, "exercise, exercise, exercise". Is there someone at the house with you? If not then you need to make special friends that can call you daily. Your friends will probably enjoy doing this and it helps keep in contact with the outside world- develop a plan. Pd has "different strokes" with "different folks". So there is no one pattern. There are effects that are progressive which you can study up on. And it is important to study the different effects PD has on patients. Become intelligent about PD and it's possible effects on you and be able to intelligently discuss this with your Doctor. There are several "look alike diseases" that appear to be PD but are not...but are related. My mother, my brother, my aunt, and my grandmother (although they say it may not hereditary) all had different symptoms of PD. Mother and grandmother and aunt all functioned normally (just did a lot of shaking). They died of other causes at ages 80, 63, and 78. My brother is disabled with PD. Some places to go for more information are (Just click on they): ( I may have not given you all the good sites but these are some) http://www.parkinson.org/ http://www.ninds.nih.gov/health_and_medical/pubs/parkinson_disease_htr.htm#e arly_symptoms http://www.geocities.com/pdcaregiver/ParkinsonsPages.html http://www.parkinson.org/docgetmap.htm http://www.geocities.com/murraycharters/ http://persoweb.francenet.fr/~mondor/updrs.htm http://rewiredforlife.healthology.com/focus_index.asp?f=parkinsons_disease You did not say whether you are near a large city, small city, etc, but it is important to have a PD Doctor that recognizes the different stages of PD and stays "on task" with you and is able to properly diagnose with PD meds. From what I understand on this List Serve there are many PD patients that function normally and live a happy life. Some of these will be getting in touch with you. Have a happy day! Larry Wilson ----- Original Message ----- From: "Maggie Mauney" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Saturday, October 05, 2002 9:57 AM Subject: New to PD > Hello all, > > I've just been diagnosed with PD last week, and I have some questions about > what to expect. > > I developed a tremor in my left hand about 6 months ago; also, my balance > has been off for several years, and within the last few months I've begun to > have problems with stumbling when I walk, falling (or almost falling) often. > Are all these symptoms of PD? Also, what about pain? I've had severe pain > in my left forearm (the same side with the tremor), and it feels like muscle > sprain--but just won't get better. OFten, when I'm resting and not using my > arm, the throbbing is terrible--and lifting heavy items is very painful. > I've also been choking more lately. Are these PD problems? If so, any > predictions on what I can expect my future to bring--predictions on the > progression of the PD? > > I've just started taking Mirapex, and am on a low dosage now. I've not > noticed any change on the Mirapex--no side effects either. Any of you > familiar with MIrapex? > > I live alone way out in the country, and to be honest I'm afraid now of > falling at home sometime and not being able to get up. Now it's almost > impossible to get up when I'm sitting in a chair, unless I have some way to > pull myself up. And I fear choking on food when I'm alone. Any > suggestions? Or am I worrying too much? > > Any input on what I can expect would be appreciated. > > Maggie Mauney > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn