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Hello everyone, I'd like to introduce myself to the members of the list. My name is Stephen Duff and I live in a small town in southern NJ just across the river from Philadelphia, PA. I'm 43, married and have four children ranging in age from 10 to 20 yrs old. I'm a Chemical Engineer; but, I use computers more than chemicals these days. And my typing (or deterioration of my typing) made me more aware of an increasing tremor in my left hand. Over the past several years I've noticed at times that my left hand would shake and I would drop things like a pencil or screwdriver. In the past year I have occasionally staggered and nearly fell a few times. In general, I've tried to ignore the symptoms until it effected my work - writing or running computer software. My maternal grandfather was diagnosed with Parkinsons Disease in 1970, so I know just a little bit about the disease and its progression. In the '70s there were not too many options for treatment and the L-Dopamine that he was given had side effects that were almost as bad as the disease itself. I've seen some postings here about a potential relationship to diabetes so I'll mention that my mother and my maternal grandmother have diabetes. I have not had a formal diagnosis of Parkinsons Disease yet. My family doctor called it Parkinsonism. I go for an MRI on Thursday and have an appointment with a Neurologist in early April. And, I joined this list with the hope that I could talk to other people with Parkinsons Disease and gather the information that I may need in the future. I also hope to be able to contribute to the list since I have a few contacts in the pharmaceutical industry and also have had plenty of chemistry while in school. I can't sign off until I express my gratitude to the person(s) responsible for starting and maintaining this list. This is a very valuable resource for anyone with Parkinsons and their families. Many thanks. Best Regards, Stephen Duff [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I squirm when I see athletes praying before a game. Don't they realize that if God took sports seriously he never would have created George Steinbrenner. Mark Russel ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~