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Janet Thank you so much for your words. They really help. I often feel like I'm talking to a brick wall when I talk to my parents and family. They don't want to hear anything. I'll pass this e-mail on. As for talking with you directly, my father doesn't have internet access and wouldn't know what to do with it if he did. Not for long, though...I'm giving him my computer shortly and will teach him about the Net. First thing I will do is subscribe him to this list. Thanks again for sharing your experience with me. Something you said made quite a difference in my own awareness: "if i 'expect' life to be difficult and maybe something i'm supposed to learn from i will always be challenged and sometimes pleasantly surprised." I think I will post this on my cubicle wall. Thanks again. Ally In a message dated 6/16/99 4:52:28 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes: << ally mdified from another post 1. sinemet will ease his pd symptoms almost completely as the first stage - the 'honeymoon' stage - of your dad's pd career begins 2. the pd list archives are a goldmine of information - we have likely been there and done that - if not - there are now 1800 brains right here, ripe for the picking / digging in re my own diagnosis experience here's something i wrote last summer: ------------------------------------------------------- onset ------------------------------------------------------- for some strange reason i can't comprehend having pd as depressing a challenge most definitely but also 'just another problem' tossed at me that i have to cope with in 'the road less traveled' scott peck describes life as being difficult once i got over the shock of that simple statement i understood what he meant by changing the way i look at things if i 'expect' life to be easy i will always be disappointed and whining about 'fairness' if i 'expect' life to be difficult and maybe something i'm supposed to learn from i will always be challenged and sometimes pleasantly surprised i had symptoms for a long time before getting up the nerve to go to a doctor first was the small finger in my left hand while i was typing cramps and tension then my left arm then my left foot then i was uncomfortable and stiff while walking any distance i got more and more frightened and slowed down more and more i even tried some exercise tapes thinking i was just 'out of shape' and scared myself silly cause i couldn't do them when i got the diagnosis of parkinson's disease i went into a blind panic but that was based on ignorance [since my functioning was affected - walking, writing] it was decided that i needed to go on sinemet right away so i started eldepryl and sinemet in october 1988 and have been on them since my trip to canada to see the neuro involved my having to get a wheelchair because i couldn't walk the length of the toronto airport my trip back to bermuda three weeks later, sinemetized, involved my marching through the airport with all the bravada and syncopation of a one woman band eldepryl 10 mg per day has not changed the sinemet has been increased in quantity and frequency over the years but any changes have been very slow so my total med menu is eldepryl, sinemet and prozac i haven't wanted to start on an agonist until one of the newer ones has been through a bit of a shake down period if i'm 'kicked out' i have a hard time walking, writing, 'doing' much of anything my symptoms have always been rigidity and bradykinesia, no tremor to speak of if i'm 'kicked in' [90 % of the time, except for those dreaded 'hormone' days] most people wouldn't know i had pd to look at me i might be a tad twitchy now and again, but nothing major i must drive my cats nuts because they'll watch me shuffling around like a 150 year old and then within minutes i'll be chasing them up and down the house like a five year old that's one thing that i relish the enforced 'on' and 'off' times have made me appreciate the 'on' times so much more i am sillier than i've ever been in my life i used to take a lot for granted but not now ------------------------------------------------------- janet paterson 20 august 1998 ------------------------------------------------------- ally if your dad wants to write to me privately i'd be honoured to be a 'sounding board' janet >>