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Hello, my name is Christine Anderson, and I have been a subscriber to this list for about 4 months. I am 46 years of age and live in Christchurch, New Zealand. I noticed a very slight tremor in one hand towards the end of 1992, which was attributed to essential tremor by my general practioner. About 18 months later, in mid 1994, I asked to be referred to a specialist because I was feeling so tired all the time and because I felt the tremor had got worse. After conducting a series of tests (which took a further 6 months ) he diagnosed PD, much to my distress. Initially, my only sources of information about PD were library books and encyclopaedias, which only ever seemed to describe PD as an older person's disorder. It made me more depressed than ever to think that I had suddenly zoomed into old age when I was barely out of my 30's. I had often heard it said that life begins at 40, but now I was learning that my "good years" were to be cut short. I felt very depressed and isolated. The turning point came when I met a member of this list, Pam Barnett, who told me about the Parkinsn list and kept me supplied with printouts of interesting letters and articles. It was enormously comforting to realise that it was not all THAT unusual to have PD at my age. And when I read articles about new developments in the field of Neuroscience I gained hope for the future. The list became my lifeline. And so we invested in a computer ourselves, partly so that our 4 teenage children could use it for school assignments and could become computer literate, but mainly so that I could subscribe to this list. I enjoy reading all the contributions, especially those which give information about alternative treatments ( such as Jeff Jones' recent posting about the Townsend Letter ), new developments in drugs and therapies, and information on the use of current meds. At present I am taking eldepryl 5mg x 2 daily, vitamin C powder, Pycnogenol, and a multi-vitamin and mineral supplement. The only additional meds that I would feel happy about taking at this stage are ones that may have a neuro-protective effect, such as Pramipexole. My attention was first drawn to Pramipexole by John Cottingham's informative and encouraging (!) article posted 7 Nov. 1996. Thanks John, really appreciate your contributions. Christine Anderson (46/2) Christchurch, NZ. [log in to unmask]