[Richard]

I am 55 and do plan to continue working until 60 (Good Lord willing!) and so far having Parkinson’s has not negatively affected my performance at work. I work in a larger hospital managing a team of about 40 staff that take care of the facility and its maintenance needs. I hesitated to tell my employer when I was first diagnosed three years ago but needed occasional time off to participate in a clinical trial so I did inform my manager. He was and is still supportive and shared his experience with his father who also had Parkinson’s. The most difficult to manage aspect I do notice is that when we experience a stressful situation at work, my anxiety peaks and I have to work to relax and not get too wound up about the issue at hand. I’m not certain if this anxiety is all related to the Parkinson’s or not but it never used to affect me that way until the last few years.

[Richard]

Hi Ron,

I am also 55 and was diagnosed three years ago. Initially I did not start L/C or any meds as I had joined a clinical trial right after my diagnosis. Just about 18 months later I started taking L/C and after a month I settled at 100/25 x 3 pills a day. My initial symptoms were not tremors but mostly stiffness on one side (arm & leg) and my gait was a bit off. I am a fair weather runner and during the spring to fall season I run 2 to 3 x week. I hate the treadmill so in winter I just walk and do yoga and TaiChi. These all seem to help with maintaining my mobility and as everyone else already mentioned, keeping moving is definitely the key. I do experience mild levodopa induced dyskinesia from the L/C meds and I also take rasagiline 1mg x day. Coming up on two years since I started the L/C and I don’t regret starting it cause it does help. For me it also calms the jitters and anxiety I get from PD. I hope this information helps and I wish you the best of luck in managing this disease.