Biography

I was diagnosed with PD on December 19th of 2019, but I’m pretty sure I started having symptoms starting on 7 June 2015. At that time, and for the next forty-six months, both I and the medical people attributed the numbness and stiffness in my right-side lower back, leg, and foot to a combination of arthritis and residual nerve damage due to a herniated lumbar disk in 2009. When, in the spring of 2019, I started feeling numbness and stiffness in my left leg, along with other strange symptoms (e.g., gait hesitation, speech and handwriting problems) was PD suspected. Within two days of starting Carbidopa-Levodopa 95% of the numbness disappeared and I felt much better. However, most of the gait hesitation, speech and handwriting problems remained. Physical therapy and Rock Steady Boxing seem to be helping.