MS HILARY S ZUNIN <[log in to unmask]>
CONGRATULATIONS! You were very wise to have done so much already. Keep the
status of not really knowing you have Pd, just a health professional's guess,
as long as you can. I rushed to diagnosis and treatment and now regret it -
probably could have held out for another year or more, but "what did I know".
Your most important consideration is Long Term Care Insurance, if you are a
believer in insurance as an important risk reducing financial advantage. As
soon as you are diagnosed you will probably join the large group of
uninsurables as I did - missed by less than one year. Now of course I
rationalize by saying I don't really believe in insurance anyway, it's too
expensive, I won't need it, I'll just save up my money. You must be very
knowledgeable to have selected a Long Term Care Policy from among the
confusing mess offered.
Finally, did you consider a Living Trust to better manage your future
financial and health concerns and avoid probate?
*****
Concerning possible medications and when to start: {Based on my own
experience and that of a few others who have commented on this List} If you
can tolerate the symptoms, do NOT begin Sinemet until absolutely necessary -
or any of the other popular additional meds such as Eldepryl or Permax.
There is no question that if you have PD the dopamine in Sinemet will
improve the symptoms, but along with it you will have the side effects which
are considerable. I honestly believe that my symptoms increased markedly
after I started on the medications, but now I have no way of knowing how the
PD would have progressed without the meds. Now I am having great difficulty
balancing the meds to provide symptomatic relief and at the same time reduce
edema, orthostatic hypotension, ups and downs of energy and alertness [at
this moment in the med cycle I am "up", perhaps at your misfortune
considering my verbosity] and other side effects.
Wishing you a very successful future as a Parkie who got off to an excellent
beginning.
Fred, just another parkie
