I’m 51. Just been told that I probably have “Early onset Parkinson’s”!
I am an Electronics Engineer who has spent most of my working life behind a desk. I have done exercise over those years, so not been a complete desk potato!
I enjoy cycling and walking and playing the guitar.
I noticed a small tremor in my right-hand index finger last year and difficulties in writing M’s, n’s, u’s and w’s in my writing. Also there are now some songs I can play that I could play last year (been playing since I was 11).
To be honest, I’m s**t scared of what I now face and how long I have left to live and in what quality! I have told my Wife to divorce me and move on so I don’t ruin her life and I’ve considered suicide!
Has anyone else, my age, reacted as badly as I have?
Thank you for trusting the group with how things feel right now.
Many people live for decades with Early onset Parkinson’s with a good quality of life. Symptoms often respond well to medication, and things like cycling, walking, and playing guitar are activities lots of people continue for years.
I can relate to everything you are feeling right now because having PD is very scary because we look at people with advanced PD and automatically think that’s how we will be. But the truth is that everyone has it different and we can live a pretty normal life for many years.
I personally was diagnosed Feb 2025 but had suspicions for a few years before that.
I decided that I wanted to reach out to other people with it and attended a ‘first steps with PD’ course with my husband and found it really helpful. So from there I decided to attend weekly exercise classes and a PD singing group. Well done to you for reaching out too.
My husband is now my carer and I am on lots of meds and involving him in my new life as it is now has given him a very important role which he is learning to adapt to and he feels included and knows how valuable he is to me.
Everyone with PD has different requirements and routines but we try to live our lives making adaptations here and there so we can still try to make the best of things.
There’s a lot of help out there so keep reaching out and keep in touch on this Forum
Hi read your post, I was diagnosed in Nov 24 at 45 years old I had symptoms a year or 2 before that.
I too took it badly and thought the worst but there are lots of examples of people who live well years after diagnosis. I found it useful speaking with other young onset people - would recommend 2 Parkies in a pod - podcast both young onset people host the show - there is also the Michael J Fox website where you can meet and have teams calls with other people in the same boat. - exercise really helps too.
Forgot to say in my earlier post think it’s also worth trying to remain hopeful that medical science improves and they find a cure or better medication soon -all the advances in AI must help find a solution soon!!
