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My 87-year-old mother who was recently diagnosed with PD has always been a "nervous" person. My sister and I are acutely aware of this as we saw it with our grandmother and our aunt. Now that I look back I remember my Mother weaving slightly when she walked as long ago as the late sixties. We were walking along together and she kept bumping into me. I don't remember any trembling then but she was a hard worker and would often lie down for naps during the day. On the other hand, she traveled 15 miles or so everyday to work at Wright Patterson Air Force Base and she retired from there after 22 years of service. Whatever symptoms she may have had she overcame in order to work and keep a next to perfect household. After my father died four years ago she lived alone for three years. Then my sister and I could see that her life was full of stress and despair. As we both lived away alot of our communication was by phone. We were constrained by our own schedules to visit her during holidays and in the summer. It seemed that just as we were about to go back to our teaching jobs in the fall her distress would mount and we felt impotent to do anything about it. Finally, with her permission, we sold her house and established her in a personal care unit of a retirement community where she would be closer to my sister and looked after regularly. It has been one and one-half years now and she still is discontent but the diagnosis of PD gives us some hope that medication will help. We can hear her voice as stronger and this year she is interested in sending Christmas letters to her friends. I will type them and she will have only to sign as she has little writing strength. We brought her to Pennsylvania this summer for 3 and 1/2 weeks and she made the 10-hour trip quite well. She uses a walker for balance, although she does not need it otherwise. Unfortunately, she fell one year ago and fractured her kneecap and that knee remains a little stiff. I believe we missed an earlier diagnosis of PD although the neurologist said her case is still mild. I cannot fault non-specialists for not picking up on this. She had been seen for a thorough geriatric evaluation at the University of Cincinnati and they diagnosed anxiety and recommended medication which she would not get filled. When one has gone through loss of a spouse, relocation to a retirement community, storage of furniture, etc. there are so many things to consider that it is difficult to sort them all out. It's no wonder she says she wants to die as her life has suddenly shut down. I don't know if this helps regarding Linda's request for others' experience with stress and symptoms of PD. I hope so.