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Last June my wife Heather, a parkinsonian, and I, were involved in an automobile accident on a Los Angeles freeway in the rush hour and after dark. We were at a point where the freeway splits and becomes two freeways,and where there are probably eight lanes. Getting rear ended was bad enough, but getting our van to the side of the freeway across 4-5 lanes with people travelling at 60+ mph, was terrifying. However we did manage to do so and met the guilty party, who told us that she had bent down to pick up her dropped hamburger, just as the traffic slowed. BANG! We had some damage to the van, which the other parties insurance company (Allstate) paid to have done at one of their approved shops. This turned out to be almost as stressful as the accident, an estimate of a two day job turned into a month long trial with many angry letters and phone calls, plus taking the van back to have the work done again. What has all of this to do with Parkinsons you ask! Well Heather's Dyskinesea goes into overdrive whenever we knew we have to go on the freeway, which in L.A. is every time you go anywhere out of your street. So stressed are both of us by this incident, that our plans to move out of L.A. to avoid freeways, has gone into high gear and we will be moving later this year. Physical damage was limited to some bruising on Heather's neck and disapeared after a few days, but the dyskinesea is not going to go away. The insurance company has today informed me that they have concluded, after seeing medical records from both Heather's GP and Neurologist, that her claim of stress produced Dyskinesea was not substantiated. My wife visits the Neurologist about every 6 weeks, and often gets Dyk. just from the stress of these visits, she also gets it from some phone calls, when we have visitors, or when she needs to make a quick decision. Now we can add freeway driving! The point is that Heather's Medical records are not going to show Dyk. from this accident, although they should show that she suffers from it, as a result of taking sinemet for 10 years. So the insurance company is using this absence of a mention for this specific accident, as an indication that she is not suffering increased Dyk. related to getting on freeways. The insurers have offered Heather $1000 to settle her claim, which is totally inadequate, since she will experience Dyk. from this source of stress for the rest of her life, or until the cure for Dyk.is found. As a regular on this list, I have seen many letters about stress produced Dyk. and I hope that I might get some support in the form of letters,that I can use in my continuing claim with Allstate. Thankyou for listening to us. Heather 63/11