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Hi Moneesha: I think you should test for the thyroid function too. Usully this also goes down several years head of time. R. Rajaraman ******************** ----- Original Message ----- From: "Moneesha Sharma" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2008 4:12 AM Subject: Re: Your Nose and PD > This was certainly the case with my husband. Some years previous to his > diagnosis of PD, we were surprised to find that he was gradually losing > his > sense of smell. We put it down to the fact that he had been a smoker in > his > younger days. I found out about the link between PD and a loss of the > sense > of smell when I was searching the net for symptoms of PD before we > actually > went to the doctor. He had all the initial symptoms including a loss of > the > sense of smell. > Moneesha Sharma > > > On Sat, Mar 22, 2008 at 6:58 AM, rayilynlee <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > >> Your nose may warn about onset of Parkinson's >> >> From correspondents in Washington, United States, 11:31 AM IST >> >> An impaired sense of smell occurs in the earliest stages of Parkinson's >> disease (PD) and there is mounting evidence that it may precede motor >> symptoms by several years, according to a study. >> The study, by researchers at the Pacific Health Research Institute in >> Hawaii, found that smell impairment can precede the development of PD in >> men >> by at least four years. >> Findings of the study have been published in the latest edition of the >> Annals of Neurology, the official journal of the American Neurological >> Association. >> Led by G. Webster Ross of the VA Pacific Islands Health Care System and >> the >> Pacific Health Research Institute in Honolulu, Hawaii, the study included >> 2,267 men who received an olfactory test and were followed for up to >> eight >> years to find out if they developed PD. During the course of follow-up, >> 35 >> men developed the disease. >> The results showed that a smell identification deficit could predate the >> development of PD by at least four years, although it was not a strong >> predictor beyond this time period. >> A decreased ability to identify odours was associated with older age, >> smoking, more coffee consumption, less frequent bowel movements, lower >> cognitive function and excessive daytime sleepiness, but even after >> adjusting for these factors, those with poor odour identification had a >> five >> times greater risk of developing PD. >> The pathology of smell impairment in PD is not completely understood, but >> nerve loss and the formation of Lewy bodies, abnormal clumps of proteins >> inside nerves cells that are thought to be a marker of PD, are known to >> take >> place in the olfactory structures of patients with the disease. >> The authors note that one study involving brain dissection of dead >> patients >> with neurological disease found that olfactory structures are the >> earliest >> brain regions affected by Lewy degeneration, which supports the idea that >> an >> impaired sense of smell could be one of the earliest signs of the >> disease. >> (Staff Writer, (c) IANS) >> >> Rayilyn Brown >> Board Member AZNPF >> Arizona Chapter National Parkinson's Foundation >> [log in to unmask] >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> 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 > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG. > Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.21.8/1337 - Release Date: > 20/03/2008 8:10 PM > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn