Jeffery Hill

In summer I do a modest amount of outdoor cycling and gardening.  Now that winter has arrived in Ontario, a lot of my exercise has moved indoors.  I’m hitting the gym up to 4 days a week.  I start with a 60 minute high intensity spin class, followed by 45 minutes of either weights/stretching or aquarobics.  On my non-gym days I try to get in at…[Read more]

My neurologist has never referred to stages in our discussions, but she does inquire about each of the major symptom areas on each visit (tremor, rigidity, balance, sleep, constipation, etc).  The good news is that the symptoms don’t seem to be advancing very quickly since initial diagnosis 3 years ago, which I credit to a big up-tick in my…[Read more]

I’m Toronto as well.

I dream a lot, though inevitably I forget the plot soon after I awaken and my wife tells me that I’ve become a little more “chatty”  in the last few years.  I sometimes wake myself (and everyone else) yelling in my sleep.  Some mornings I find a wall of pillows between my wife and I (she would prefer that I don’t slug her in my sleep).

I’ve been taking Rasagaline for 3 years since my initial diagnosis.  The rationale was that it has protective properties.  There’s no way to know if it’s working because you can’t do a test/control within yourself!  However my symptoms are not progressing rapidly (good news) and I continue to defer starting levadopa.

I disclosed nearly 2 years ago and was treated no differently before or after.  8 months later I announced my plan to retire in 6 months.  The company worked with me to recruit and train a successor, and I was able to retire on schedule.

Like those above my first symptom was loss of smell years ago, but I treated it as a nuisance and did not bring it up with my doctor.  4 years ago at age 56 I felt weakness in my forearms, a slight tremor in my left thumb and deteriorating handwriting.  I secured an appointment with a neurologist within a year and she confirmed PD.  My father al…[Read more]