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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.