Print

Print


This morning I sat down in front of my computer to post a question on
the list...I got my messages first...and there was the question I was
going to ask...driving and PWP. My sister and I drive to Parkinson's
Support meetings together. A few months ago I noticed that she was
driving with her left hand on the wheel and laying her right arm in
her lap. When I asked her about that, she said her right shoulder hurt
and her affected hand was weak, so she doesn't raise it to hold the
steering wheel with both hands. I urged her to get both hands up on
the wheel for safety and not to coddle that hand just because it
wasn't as strong as it used to be.

Two months ago while driving to the meeting, I noticed she was driving
the car towards the right and onto the white line on the passenger
side of the road and nearly side swiped a parked car on two ocassions.
When I pointed that out, I again urged her to put her weak arm up and
hand on the steering wheel because I felt that her stronger left side
was over compensating and steering the car to the right. I urged her
to focus on staying in the center of the lane and be aware of the car
drifting to the right. She said she did not notice that she was doing
that.

Last month while driving to the meeting she told me that yesterday she
had had a flat tire...the right front passenger tire had gone flat
from damage to the sidewall where the tireman said she probably hit a
curb. It was then that she realized she had a previous flat six weeks
ago and it was the right front tire again, also with damage to the
sidewall and months ago a hub cap was missing off her right front
tire. She brought the three right front tire incidents together and
realized that my obervations were accurate and that I wasn't a "back
seat driver" but I was someone who had brought her attention to a
problem that she wasn't aware she was having.

She asked me if I thought the problem was caused by PD and if I
thought she was safe to drive. I told her that physically her eyes
were healthy, she did not have damage to her brain, her right side was
weaker but that if she accepted the fact that she tends to drift to
the right but keeps both hands on the wheel and focuses consciously to
stay in the center of the lane for a period of time...then she may be
able to compensate and develop a new awareness of where the car is
while driving. She's been driving since 15y.o. and never had an
accident.

Now her daughters tell me that when the light turns green after a
stop, she sits there and gets honked at and that when she does
accelerate, she drives too slow...I noticed this too but I figured I
was just being a "back seat driver"...now I don't know.

She is 49yr old, diagnosed 6 months ago, symptomatic 2 yrs, only on
Eldepryl 5mg bid, and symptoms are very mild. Has anyone else had
similar experiences? Is this a common problem for PWP? How could her
problem be explained?

Gail Vass, cg for sister...email address [log in to unmask]