Print

---

HI Jennifer and Welcome to the list:

Welcome to the list.

As a physician I wonder too.  Was the diagnosis made by a psychiatrist? Often psychiatric diagnoses
are misused by non-psychiatrists. E.g. if you shake you are nervous and if you get worse with stress
(the way PWP often do) you must have some kind of anxiety disorder.  A panic disorder should not be
confused with PD in most cases.

PD is a difficult diagnosis to make especially for a non neurologist since there is no lab tests
that can screen for it. It is an easy diagnosis to make retrospectively and it is easy for a patient
or another PWP or in fact the physician who missed the diagnosis to look back and say "How come it
took so long to make the diagnosis.?!"  The problem is  certainly at times ignorance and failure to
consider PD as a possibility I am not trying to minimize that factor. Especially in YOPD non
neurologists as well as many neurologists don't consider the possibility. But it is also important
to recognize that the symptoms of PD can especially in the early years be many other things in
addition to PD.  Prospectively,  a good diagnostician is considering a number of options and often
has to follow symptoms over time to make a definitive diagnosis.( including  "red herring "symptoms
that have nothing to do with the PD)  I'll bet that the vast majority of PWP on the list saw a
physician for their symptoms of PD for at least 6 months prior to their diagnosis.  Even as a
physician it was over a year and a new neurologist taking a fresh view of by then relatively
advanced symptoms  before I was diagnosed.  There are a lot of incompetent  or at least
undereducated doctors out there when it comes to PD but keep the difficulty of the diagnosis in
mind before getting too mad.

Charlie
Jennifer Smith wrote:

> Dear Barbara,
> Thank you for your welcome letter.  I am Jennifer Smith and was
> diagnosed with PD just about a month ago.  I am still waiting to see a
> neurologist near where I live in NC since I was diagnosed in CA.  I am
> 41 years old and have had escalating symptoms for nearly a year.  I was
> originally misdiagnosed with Panic Disorder and put on a myriad of
> antidepressants and sedatives, all of which had terrible side effects
> and little to no success in alleviating my symptoms.  A question I have
> is how many others out there have had similar experiences.  I spent a
> little time on a pwp chat channel and found that when I asked the same
> question, the board lit up with many responses confirming that this is a
> very common misdiagnosis.  If that is the case, what is the problem with
> the medical community that they seem to completely overlook PD as a
> possibility, especially in younger patients?
> Thank you again for welcoming me and I look forward to being a part of
> this list.
> Jennifer

--
******************************************************************************************
Charles T. Meyer,  M.D.
Middleton (Madison), Wisconsin
[log in to unmask]
******************************************************************************************