Comment from: Ahsan, 0-2 Male (Patient)Published: August 24
I am a 39-year-old man. My Parkinson's disease appeared at the age of 37. My symptoms, at the beginning, were fine tremors and rigidity with joint stiffness. I am taking entacapone with levodopa, carbidopa, and pramipexole. My Parkinson's disease is mostly under control.
Comment from: Lalita, 75 or over Female (Patient)Published: August 13
I am a 77-year-old lady. My Parkinson's disease appeared at the age of 55. My symptoms at the beginning were fine tremors and rigidity with joint stiffness. I am taking Entacapone with Levodopa, Carbidopa, and Pramipexole. My Parkinson's disease is partly under control.
Comment from: Elaine, 55-64 Female (Patient)Published: January 21
My symptoms started at the age of 33. My fingers on my left hand were stiff and were difficult to move. People noticed that my walk was not normal. I was often asked did I hurt. I noticed nothing different about my walk. It was difficult getting up from` a chair and getting out of a car. I was diagnosed a year later. I am now 59. With new medicine in recent years, I feel better now than I have felt since I was diagnosed. Having PD has changed my life drastically, but I am coping.
Comment from: 55-64 Male (Patient)Published: October 07
I was diagnosed five years ago at the age of 51. I had symptons for 3-4 years prior to that but did not know anything about Parkinsons. I first noticed a slight twitch in my left hand, finger and thumb, which became pill rolling. We attended a lot of sports events and I would lose my balance in the moving crowd. I then started seeing a neurologist. I started falling a lot when losing my balance and had a hard time walking normal. I finally froze up in the doorway at church. I told my Neuro and he said that he now knew that I had Parkinsons. Started me on drugs and I got better right away.
Comment from: RedSky, 55-64 Female (Patient)Published: August 06
I am a 55 year old female that just found out I have Parkinson's, but I have been having signs of it for years, tremors, depression, body weakness. ECT. I honestly don't think my doctor was reading the signs because of my gender and age. A few years ago I had my shoulder lock up on me and I was sent to a P.T since x-rays didn't show any physical damage. My shaking was getting worse and I began falling. Only when my speech became so bad that it brought concern to my dentist was Parkinson's even considered. He phoned my doctor with his concerns about my shaking and balance problems. By this time I was forgoing shots in the back of my neck for back and neck pain to which once again I was sent to a P.T (although x-rays showed no damage) I was told I had a few spurs which were most likely causing the pain. Here I was feeling like my whole body was falling apart and doctor could not find anything wrong, maybe in was all in my head? My doctor even seemed annoyed with me and things just kept progressing and I just kept it to myself, why bother going through testing and them finding nothing? Well, it was after my second P.T called my doctor about the weakness in my legs and arms, by this time I have developed a gait in my walk and I fell more frequently. Only then did my doctor send me to a specialist and it was found that I had Parkinson's, and that I had had it for awhile. I think because I was a woman that my signs and symptoms weren't taken seriously and therefor left untreated for so long.
Comment from: intrepid, 55-64 Female (Patient)Published: April 13
I am 56 years old and was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease after four years of decreasing mobility to the point of having family dress me. One of my first symptoms was the lost of my sense of smell. Experiencing the beautiful aroma of a rose is no longer something to look forward to.
Comment from: DGBridgers, 75 or over Female (Caregiver)Published: August 04
My husband, age 80, has just been diagnosed with Parkinsonism. It took a while and several doctors (2 were neurologists) to make the diagnosis.
He has all the symptoms except the tremors. Looking back I can now understand what was happening to him over the last 2 years. He was falling (backwards) developed humped posture, slow movements. The last fall that fractured his hip was what brought out the PD question when he had to go to therapy and they indicated that his body was very rigid. He has been in skilled care facility since February and is now on Sinemet. He has been on it for 2 days and we are hopeful.
Comment from: Umrish , 65-74 Female (Caregiver)Published: April 13
My mother is now 73 years old. About 10 years ago, she was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. She is having stiffness and finding it difficult to walk. She tends to fall. Now, another problem that we are facing is that she is losing her memory day by day.
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Suggested Reading on Parkinson's Disease by Our Doctors
Muscle cramps are involuntarily and forcibly contracted muscles that do not relax. Extremely common, any muscles that have voluntary control, including some organs, are subject to cramp. Since there is such variety in the types of muscle cramps that can occur, many causes and preventative medications are known. Stretching is the most common way to stop or prevent most muscle cramps.
Anxiety is a feeling of apprehension and fear characterized by physical symptoms. Anxiety disorders are serious medical illnesses that affect approximately 19 million American adults.
Dizziness is a symptom that is often applies to a variety of sensations including lightheadedness and vertigo. Causes of dizziness include low blood pressure, heart problems, anemia, dehydration, and more. Treatment of dizziness depends on the cause.
Dementia is a significant loss of intellectual abilities such as memory capacity, severe enough to interfere with social or occupational functioning. There are different criteria classification schemes for dementias such as cortical, subcortical, progressive, primary, and secondary dementias. Other conditions and medication reactions can also cause dementia. Dementia is diagnosed based on a certain set of criteria. Treatment for dementia is generally focused on the symptoms of the disease.
Depression is an illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts and affects the way a person eats and sleeps, the way one feels about oneself, and the way one thinks about things. The principal types of depression are major depression, dysthymia, and bipolar disease (also called manic-depressive disease).
Impotence, also known as erectile dysfunction, is a common
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erection sufficient for sexual intercourse or the inability to achieve
ejaculation, or both. Impotence can have emotional causes but most often it is
due to a physical problem.
Tremor is the involuntary movements of one or more parts of the body. Causes of tremor include neurological disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, drugs, mercury poisoning, overactive thyroid and liver failure. There are several types of tremor. Treatment depends upon the type of tremor and availability of medications for the condition.
Overactive bladder is a sudden involuntary contraction of the muscle wall of the bladder causing urinary urgency (an immediate unstoppable need to urinate). Overactive bladder is is a form of urinary incontinence. Treatment options may include Kegel exercises, biofeedback, vaginal weight training, pelvic floor electrical stimulation, behavioral therapy, and medications.
Dysphagia or difficulty in swallowing, swallowing problems. Dysphagia is due to problems in nerve or muscle control. It is common, for example, after a stroke. Dysphagia compromises nutrition and hydration and may lead to aspiration pneumonia and dehydration.
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Orthostatic hypotension symptoms include lightheadedness, weakness, blurred vision, and syncope or passing out. Causes of orthostatic hypotension include dehydration, anemia, medication, blood loss, low blood pressure, heat related illnesses and more. Treatment of orthostatic hypotension depends on the underlying cause.
There are many types of urinary incontinence (UI), which is the accidental leakage of urine. These types include stress incontinence, urge incontinence, and overflow incontinence. Urinary incontinence in men may be caused by prostate or nerve problems. Treatment depends upon the type and severity of the UI and the patient's lifestyle.
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People who have bladder spasms, the sensation occurs suddenly and often severely. A spasm itself is the sudden, involuntary squeezing of a muscle. A bladder spasm, or "detrusor contraction," occurs when the bladder muscle squeezes suddenly without warning, causing an urgent need to release urine. The spasm can force urine from the bladder, causing leakage. When this happens, the condition is called urge incontinence or overactive bladder.
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Dizziness is one of the most common symptoms that will
prompt a person to seek medical care. The term dizziness (or dizzy) means
different things to different people, so it is difficult to define. Does "feeling dizzy"
mean lightheadedness or the feeling of weakness and almost passing out?
Or does it
refer to the sensation of vertigo, in which a person feels as if they have just
gotten off a merry-go-round?
Dizziness (lightheadedness) is often caused by a decrease in blood supply to the brain,
while vertigo may be caused by disturbances of the inner ear and the balance centers
of the brain. It is important that the health care practitioner understand what
you mean when you complain of dizziness. You may be asked additional questions
so that the proper direction can be taken for a diagnosis and treatment.
If you think you have a medical emergency, call your doctor or 911 immediately.
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I am a 39-year-old man. My Parkinson's disease appeared at the age of 37. My symptoms, at the beginning, were fine tremors and rigidity with joint stiffness. I am taking entacapone with levodopa, carbidopa, and pramipexole. My Parkinson's disease is mostly under control.
Related Reading: Parkinson's disease | tremors