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Hi,
I have been a subscriber to this list for several months now but this is my
first time writing. My dad is 52 years old and was diagnosed with PD in
January of 1995. He is doing pretty well...he has tremor in his left arm and
hand, shuffles a little when he walks, is slower overall.... but I think he's
progressing very slowly, which is good. He has a very high energy, stressful
job as an attorney and I definitely notice that when he takes a few days off
to go to the beach, his symptoms are barely noticeable, but day to day, while
he is working, he gets so tired and his symptoms become aggravated more. What
I am concerned about, is that lately, he has been telling me that he thinks
he is losing his memory. He says that he cannot remember things that happened
yesterday, he has an impossible time concentrating and figuring out the
simplest of tasks(like simple math calculations), and he is constantly
misplacing things. Last week, he received a very important document in the
mail and we tore the house apart for two hours until he finally found it put
in a place where he would never usually put things. Anyhow, I do things like
that all of the time, and if I were suddenly dealing with all of the worry
and stress that I know he is dealing with, I think that I too would find it
difficult to concentrate and remember things. But, he is totally convinced
that it is PD that is now trying to rob him of his memory and mind. He is
scared to death and  knowing that he is a sensible man, I have to wonder if
his memory really is becoming damaged due to PD. I have read that the mind is
not affected though. And that if memory is impaired at all, it is the short
term(versus the long term of knowing how to do basic math), and that it
wouldn't happen for a long time if at all. He has only had it for a couple of
years. The doctor tells me that his memory wouldn't be affected, but then why
do they give him a series of memory tests everytime he goes to his
appointments? Does anyone know what PD does, if anything, to the memory of a
person? To their mind? Is there anything I can tell my father to ease his
worry?
Thank you,
Kerry