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IDear James and Anna - My husband, Dick, was diagnosed at age 37. He is now 52. (In net terms, we would describe him as 52/15, meaning age/years since diagnosed). You asked, > We question whether the Artane calms the tremor/symptoms or does it actually >suppress or slow down the disease process????? Artane is an anticholinergic, and as such just calms the tremors. Dick started out on Cogentin, and it worked quite well at calming the tremors for a number of years. By the way, Artane made him dreadfully ill. But everyone is different. The only drug that is currently thought to slow the progression of PD is Eldepryl. If your doctor isn't prescribing it, ask why. There are many schools of thought on when to start Sinemet, which is the drug of choice for PD. Some feel that it is advisable to delay the start of Sinemet in case there are only x number of years of benefit to be derived from it. Not all doctors agree on this one. No one really seems to know the answer, so you might have to decide for yourself. The reason your doctor probably doesn't want to attempt to sketch any kind of future for you is that PD patients are so different, and the disease varies so widely in individual cases, that it's almost impossible to predict. From personal observation, it seems to me that early-onset PD usually progresses relatively slowly. Dick continued working for 13 years following diagnosis, and had his surgery been available a couple of years earlier, he might have been able to continue longer. Unlike a lot of illnesses, there's room for a healthy amount of denial in the early stages of PD, in my opinion. It won't significantly affect your life during the early years, and by just "keepin' on keepin' on," exercising, and keeping fit, you'll do as much good as thinking and worrying about it. However, that doesn't mean you can't educate yourselves to the extent you can tolerate right now. Stay tuned to the net, read as much as you can, and inform yourselves. If the information becomes overwhelming or makes the future look too bleak, I'd suggest backing off and just living your lives until such a time as you're ready for more information. You'll know when it's time. Best of luck to the two of you. If you have questions I can answer on an individual basis, feel free to write to me at [log in to unmask] Sincerely, Margie Swindler