Can anyone offer some advice please… Diagnosed 3 months ago but I guess I’ve been living with PD for longer… Getting on ok with my meds (Requip xl 8mg) problem is I’m a hairdresser and trying to hide my temor is hard sometimes !!! Who wants a shaky hairdresser ??? Do meds stop tremors altogether or should I think about another career ??? What would I do ??? Been a hairdresser for 33 years , it’s all I know, the uncertainty of my future is playing on my mind, I don’t qualify for PIP, I’ve not been at my current job 2 years yet and I’m scared to tell my boss incase he makes things difficult, I havnt even told my co-workers , kinda feel alone in dealing with things as my family are brilliant but their not gong through what I’m going through … Any advice would be lovely thank you xxx
Hi Angela, I hope you’re well 
It sounds like you’re going through a bit of a stressful time at the moment, I’m sorry to hear that.
While I’m sure you’ll get some great advice from the other forum members, I wanted to let you know that the helpline is available to you, if you’d like to have a chat with a specialist about your worries and experiences. They’re available on 0808 800 0303 from Monday to Friday: 9am-7pm, and Saturday: 10am-2pm, or you could email [email protected].
I hope this is helpful for you, and best wishes.
Min
Moderation Team
Hi Angela,
I am sorry to hear about your situation and I have to be honest and say that from my own experience, issues relating to Parkinson’s and work can be tricky (I have struggled to find advice specific to my situation and don’t get me started on the never ending signposting …) however I would say give yourself a bit of time, don’t do anything before you have some information - this condition is going nowhere fast :-S. Then the first thing may be to talk to your Specialist or PD nurse about what’s important to you and see if there are any medication options that might help. When i was first diagnosed I thought medication was just ’ done ’ to me and it took a while to work out that medication should actually be tailored to work for me (as far as possible).
Also, it’s a personal choice but I think it’s worth seriously considering telling your employer - even if the outcome is not great; my employer didn’t/ doesn’t like this diagnosis and hasn’t made life easy but I’m still glad i said something, it was too stressful trying to hide it.
Find out exactly what your rights are in your situation - then you know what you’re working with. And they may be different to somebody else’s in another situation so try to pinpoint people to specific advice rather than general advice.
Write down any actions, discussions or advice - keeping a log of work related bits and pieces can be useful.
Acas are really helpful for specific work related queries - they don’t advise but do interpret your situation in terms of employment law as far as they can (i think that’s the best way to describe it).
And this is the hardest one - over time, think about alternatives - find out about benefits, look into different ways of working, talk to people because they may have ideas that you don’t have. Parkinson’s does affect your life and sometimes it eventually means that your options aren’t what you wanted but things are more manageable if you have some idea about the options that you have.
But take things steady, keep in touch with people about where you’re at and do it your own way. There’s no one size fits all with this thing - for me, it’s not about fighting it or beating it (the odd s aren’t good) it’s about rubbing along with it as best as i can.
Take care.
J