Hi Janet,
Lets start by taking of our "sunnies", though as you
point out it will be difficult for me to have anything other
than a green(e) view. I'm glad we are no longer quibling
about the language. As you say " if we have this
much trouble with english how on earth do people with
english as a second language cope?"
Onward to your next tangent oh "curious" one (should I
call you Alice?).
You ask:
> why do you suspect that cd is overdiagnosed in pd?
Janet, the operative word here is suspect. I have no
figures or studies to quote. I do have a destinct impression,
formed from 10 years of talking to PWP, carers and neuros,
that there is an assumption that PWP are unhappy (and
therefore, depressed). This seems to be based on the
undeniable fact that with our mask faces we look unhappy.
With the incidence of CD within PD already so high (up to 50%)
it is easy enough to assume that the sad looking, apparently
demotivated ("doesn't seem to initiate anything") individual in
front of you is part of the 50%. When you consider that, here
in Australia, the average GP will have at most 2-3 patients with
PD, they don't get much exposure to the naunces of the condition.
In the course of our quible (love that word) I have recieved several
off list communications assuring me that CD is a reality. I know
it is. I have watched in sadness and fear as someone I love slowly
changed from the strong, resulote, competent person I knew, into
a fearful, waivering, tearfull wreak. I have seen the relief on their
face on discovering that they were the victims of a chemical
imbalance and not some inherent character defect. I have watched
with joy and wonder the re-emergence of the real person as
modern anti-depressants worked their miracle. I know CD from the
outside. I know it is real and I know what it can do. Thank God I
have never had it, and hopefully, never will. I have however felt great
sadness because of PD. I have mourned for the might have beens,
cried for the should have beens. I have raged against the injustice,
the pure and simple unfairness of it all. And then, in time, I calmed
down, decided that I'd better make the best of my situation and
tried to do so. Not having CD I was able to make those choices.
They are choices I have to continue to make. PD by itself is
burden enough for me, I can only imagine what it must be like
to carry the extra weight of CD.
Dennis.
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Dennis Greene 48/10
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http://members.networx.net.au/~dennisg/
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