After about one and a half years of a wide range of tests and assessments, I finally got the Consultant's diagnosis confirming PD recently, in April 2015; it was a bit of a relief to finally have confirmed what I had suspected for so long - a little odd that bad news should feel so comparatively good!
Hi Charliefox - its weird old word isn't it when challenging news feels - well not ok but but certainly not as profoundly unsettling as not knowing.
I was diagnosed around the same time you must have been on the diagnostic roundabout but I still remember the relief when my dx came back as Parkinsons and that I wasn't losing the plot (well friends might quibble over that one). I can't think that anyone jumps up with glee as we come to terms with how the journey gets underway each finding our individual underway.These boards are a fantastic resource; you'll find honesty, humour, empathy and a whole pack of invaluable support.
With all best wishes xx
Thank you for this wonderfully supportive and warm response Melee; the world of PD is a quite new one to me, so I'm sure I'll learn a lot from this website post room as the weeks and months trundle on!
Warmest wishes and thank you once again, Charliefox x
I felt exactly the same way when I received my diagnosis just over a week ago. I'm lucky I suppose in as much as from my doctors first suspicions to confirmation only took nine weeks.
At least now we're able to sort out medication and plans to fight back. :) this forum is an amazing resource.
All the best,
Fingers
Hi Fingers - a pleasure to hear from you!
I'm really impressed how fast your dx process went, from beginning to end in just 9 weeks - mine started in early 2014, then went on right up to April this year. Mind you, I've heard of very long, drawn-out cases which make mine look like 5 minutes:-) Every best wish, Charliefox.
P.S. From your image, do you play keyboards? I only ask, as I was a guitar man for years until quite recently, when the fingers wouldn't do as they were told any more!
Hi Charliefox,
I'm a keyboard player and guitarist, good news is the meds seem to be freeing up my left hand again which had been problematic the past year or so. Can't speak highly enough of my doctors or the parkinsons team at Derby.
That isn't my real hair by the way, I was playing with a glam rock band that night. :)
Hello, Charliefox --
Don't give up the guitar yet! When I was first diagnosed, I was having trouble playing the piano. My fingers were so uncoordinated that I thought I'd never play anything worthwhile again. But once I got started on the right meds for me, I gradually regained my ability to control my fingers. It is now 13 years since that diagnosis (18 years since my first symptoms), and I am still playing Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, Schubert, and more -- plus some popular music as well. I'm strictly an amateur, but my hands are working!
Good luck with your case of PD. We're all different, but I hope you get careful, appropriate treatment and develop an interest in exercise (crucial!). Best wishes with your guitar-playing, too --
J
I am not at all musical, but I do enjoy hand embroidery. The more you do, the better things are. I've been told I have peripheral neuropathy now, which is so far affecting only my feet.