[duane-baumgartner]

Thanks Mary Beth for the reply.  It is nice to know I’m not alone with these revolving symptoms.

Hi Stuart  I was wondering if your doctor acknowledged night sweats was one of your symptoms?   I ask this because I had night sweats really bad about 20 years ago.  They were intermittent, but several times a month, for a couple of years.  That mystery has never been solved by any of the many doctors I have been to.

[duane-baumgartner]

Hello my fellow Parkies.

Looking back I think my first symptom was loss of sense of smell.  I honestly can’t tell you when this happened but at least 15 years ago.  It was something that just seemed to fade away, losing it a bit at a time until now where I can hardly smell anything unless it has a very strong odor, of course the sense of taste has followed along.

Ten years ago, while I was still working, I noticed a tremor in my left cheek and at times my arms would feel so heavy I could not hold them up.  I am a carpenter and I mentioned this problem to my GP, that when turning a screw on the job, with a screwdriver I could not complete the task because my arms felt so heavy.  He suggested I buy an electric drill.

Five years ago after enduring many PD symptoms, which come and go, I finally convinced my GP to send me to a neurologist. This opened a whole new can of worms.  To date I have been to 5 neurologists and 3 of them say I have PD, 2 say I don’t!

Three years ago I finally was prescribed LEVODOPA & CARBIDOPA which has helped with many of my symptoms, though all my symptoms seem to be on a  carousel, coming and going, which seems very bazaar to me.  Some are mild conditions (tremor in my cheek or left hand) or more severe (achy shoulders, fatigue, constipation, imbalance or jittery feeling inside my whole body).  Is this a normal progression with PD, if there is a NORMAL PD progression?

I only see my neurologist once a year because of her schedule so my meds have been handled and manipulated by my GP, who doesn’t know much about PD, and my druggist who is fairly knowledgeable about the disease as he has been working with his best friend who has PD for the last 15 years.  I have done lots of research on the disease and both of them are receptive with me when I have input, which I appreciate.

If you have made it this far into this long winded explanation of my condition, thank you.