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Keith Vandenberg: Run, don't walk, to your nearest bookstore and order PARKINSON'S DISEASE - The Complete Guide For Patients And Caregivers - by Abraham Lieberman, M.D. (Chairman of the Medical Advisory Board, American Parkinson's Disease Association) - buy the l993 edition as it is fairly up to date. If you study this book you will know almost as much as the neurologists who specialize in PD - more than most general neurologists - much, much more than most internists and general practitioners (unless the doctor happens to have PD or someone close has PD). In the meantime: DYSKINESIA: Slow, involuntary, writhing, twisting, restless movements of hands and feet, and head bobbing(athetosis), and rapid, jerky, dancelike movement of the body (chorea) The severity of dyskinesia is as as rule directly related to the severity and duration of the disease and to the total daily levodopa dosage--the higher the dosage the worse the dyskinesia. TREMOR: A rhythmical fairly fast shaking of a limb, head, mouth, tongue, or other part of body. Disease symptom. BRADYKINESIA: Slowness of movement. Disease symptom. AKINESIA: No movement. Advanced disease symptom. FREEZING is a temporary inability to move (usually several seconds). Disease symptom. A form of akinesia. ATAXIA: Loss of balance. FESTINATION: Short, shuffling steps; involuntary speeding up of gait. RETROPULSION: Involuntary movement backward. All can cause falling and serious injury. Disease symptoms. MICROGRAPHIA: Handwriting that becomes smaller and cramped. Often the earliest disease symptom. Barbara Yacos, RN <Barbyac@AOL,COM>