Hi my name is Rhian. I live in West London with my partner Mark. I am a school teacher but have not been teaching for the last year as I’ve been signed off with depression and anxiety. In the Autumn term of last year I was seen by the occupational health unit and the doctor suggested I might get a referral for Parkinson’s. So I went to my doctor and on December 21st I was seen by the neurologist . He confirmed that I had Parkinson’s and sent me for an MRI scan, which I had on the 2nd January. Well, when the results came through it was found that I had a brain tumour the size of a tennis ball. I have to admit I felt as though I’d been hit by a sledgehammer.
To cut a long story short on the 4th February I had it removed and thankfully it was found to be benign and slow growing. So now I’m just trying to come to terms with the diagnosis of Parkinson’s. I’m on half sinemet which help with the symptoms as well as the anxiety.
Wow…that is a lot of bad stuff in a very short space of time to get your head and heart around. And yet somewhere inside you there is a spark which urged you to make contact with the outside world via this forum. You must be stronger than you think or feel (if that doesn’t sound tooo much like those corny feel good sound bites…sorry if it does)
So much to cope with and it can easily feel like you are on your own, …but the reality is that there are a lot of people out there, amongst whom you will find, surprisingly or otherwise (it always seems to be different people to who you would expect) who will allow you to cry, make you laugh, do you a kindness, offer some support…whatever it is you need at the time.Horses for courses…we are all different so it cannot be a one size fits all, but everyone knows that, except the manufacturers!
Lots of different places on this forum for example for different issues or moods…just have a rummage around and see what you find and takes your fancy.
Welcome anyway!
Best wishes, Pippa
Hi Rhian
I must say that is a lot for anyone to go though and as you said you are coming to terms with the Parkinson’s, well I must say you sound like you are taking everything step By step, which is great, Ito am
On the same meds how are you finding them, and how is it with your anxiety levels ? You see I feel low, and in a room full of people i feel lost, but I have spoke to me nurse and she has said she wants me to see a doctor which she will sort out for me, but this is not about me, Parkinson is hard and to learn ways to live with it is even harder, but I will say this forum has helped me a lot . And I hope it helps you too, keep in touch
Regards Raz
What I’m finding at the moment is that the medication helps the anxiety but when that starts to wear off the anxiety comes back and I find it hard if not impossible to get rid of the feelings. Once I take a tablet I’m ok.
Hi Tiane
I knew what you mean, but I must say you should have a word with your nurse may be changing your medication or by changing the times you take them can help you, lately I have that feeling that my medication is wearing off quicker and than I am having the change of mood and body killing and just really don’t know what to say or do with anything or anyone. But you take care and I know it’s hard but we all are here if you need a chat,
Regards Raz
Thank you. How do I go about getting to see a PD nurse. So far have only seen the neurologist
Hi Tiane
Sorry for later reply you doctors and neurologist will sort that out for you, if you haven’t heard felon them soon than you can just ask at your doctors to see if you have been referred to a team of PD nurses near you local area. If not get onto the security of your neurologist and ask her to do the referral for you, I hope you all the best, keep me posted raz
This supposedly neurologists Always say it’s Parkinson’s even when it’s not,because they get a huge bonus for everyone they diagnosed with the disease,it’s the same for all types of doctors from your GP to the top brain surgeons,all on the make at our expense ,greed not patients care rules in the medical world,bye.
Thanks for the reply
That’s really strange you should mention that about neurologists consultants they (2) one a lower ranking one and finally my regular consultant diagnosed me after doing a few crappy unimpressive tests they both drew to the same conclusion .Parkinsons and I had been told for a few years by my now retired but very wise and no fool of a GP who actually was so knowledgeable that I would often ( being a hypochondriac ) would go and see him over the 16 years I was under his care with all kinds of problems I had convinced myself I definately had after googling it or reading some health book and he would look me over as I was being prepared for the inevitable same conclusion that I had reached and it was nothing at all the same as what I had actually convinced myself I won’t go into the few that really had me worried but I will mention two one was a pain down my right side of my tummy that I was convinced it was my liver (was a binge drinker for a few years ) and this pain was not going away so I thought it must be my liver so frightened wAs I the day of my appointment that I had worried myself half to death and walking towards his room at his surgery I thought i knew what was going to be said and was trembling as I entered the room and greeted by my gp who said how can we help then I mumbled that I thought my liver was swollen and it was causing me pain he casually told me to lie on the bench thing and when I pointed to the offending area he said that my liver is not there it’s further up so he checked further up my rib cage did some tapping and in under a minute said it was probably