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Jim, I really do not know enough about the illness to say what would be a more suitable name, but the need for this goes beyond the advantages that you mention - maximum publicity impact, maximum research funding attraction, and maximum research effort. I feel that renaming it might also educate medical professionals about it to a greater degree than what we have experienced here in Calcutta. In retrospect I feel that Prem's former doctor - a 'renowned' neuro-physician in this city - looked on PD as basically a 'movement disorder'. He knew nothing about the loss of the sense of smell being an early symptom, and when I mentioned it, he merely pooh-poohed it. He could give no explanation for the vision problems that Prem began to experience early on and even said that he did not think that they had anything to do with the PD. He over-medicated him for mobility problems and prescribed so much agonist that Prem began to have acute psychotic symptoms. Then he was mystified and did not know how to handle it except to prescribe heavy doses of drugs to deal with those symptoms. When I eventually insisted that Prem must come off the agonist, he agreed but said that we would have to consider DBS. It turned out that he knew next to nothing about DBS, including the facts that patients who have had psychotic symptoms are ineligible for it or that patients have to be in frequent contact with the doctor, which considering that Calcutta does not offer DBS, was going to be difficult for us to say the least. I only learnt that he was on the wrong track on all these fronts when I became a member of PIEN and CARE. This kind of thing should not happen to other patients and perhaps redefining and renaming the illness is one way of bringing its complex nature into the forefront for doctors. Moneesha Calcutta, India ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn