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Item Subject: cc:Mail Text Hello all, My name is Barbara Zimmer. I'm 43 and have had Parkinson symptoms for 9 years. Due largely to unsuccessful communication with my neurologist, I've been taking Permax and Eldepryl for only the last 18 months. Prior to that, under the apparently misguided illusion that I was buying time (for the long term effectiveness of available drugs) I experimented with some alternative medical practices with variable results. The good news is, the Permax impact on my symptoms (tremor on left side and more and more on the right, as well, shuffling gait, falling, shallow voice) has set me back to where I was about 4 years ago. I can now, among other things, once again enjoy playing the violin/viola, and run without having my legs turn mushy or toes curl under. I consider my PD symptoms to be an unfortunate smudge on my life which has otherwise been blessed with 5-year old twin daughters, a wonderful husband, a loving, supportive extended family, and a challenging and rewarding part time consulting job in the high-tech industry. I have a few questions to pose to the group, mostly having to do with communicating about PD. I'm sure I'm not the first to ask these questions so if someone wants to just point me to past discussions, that would be great. 1. What do you say to your young kids' friends and classmates when the ask you why you're shaking? Does anybody have any good one-liners or short, helpful explanations? 2. Bruce Warr's note on how he uses PD for teaching examples was greatly appreciated. My work demands that I teach some classes and occassionally facilitate meetings. Does anybody else have some stories, one-liners... that would both help explain my symptoms and put people at ease? 3. Has anybody had any experience with Rolfing? 4. Are there any other runners out there? Have you had problems with tripping or mushy legs? As a former competitive athelete (Olympic Marathon trials 1984 & 88), I have found it somewhat difficult to deal with the responses I get to my running now. I imagine myself now looking like I used to feel after running 26 miles. 6. Do any other string players read the list? Have you found any exercises that help your playing? I look forward to more of your insightly sharing. Cheers, Barbara Barbara Zimmer zimmer@ ce.hp.com (415) 857-4894 Hewlett Packard Software Initiative 1501 Page Mill Rd 5MR Palo Alto, CA 94304