Before I knew much about Parkinson’s, I thought it was mainly about tremors. The more I’ve learned, the more I’ve realised there are so many symptoms that people don’t often talk about.
I’m curious to know which symptom has had the biggest impact on your day-to-day life. Was it one of the more obvious physical symptoms, or something less well known like fatigue, stiffness, sleep problems, anxiety, loss of smell, or changes in your voice?
I think hearing about other people’s experiences can be really helpful, especially for those who are newly diagnosed and trying to understand what Parkinson’s can be like.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. Wishing everyone a good day.
It’s funny how many work colleagues when I told them I had PD were like ‘so you shake a bit’, it’s one of those things that until you have or know someone that has PD it does seem like it’s all about the shakes.. I was a bit like that as in I suffered from unexplained stiffness and cramps a good couple of years before shaking but it’s the shaking and the fact my arm didn’t move when walking that got me to get checked out and by that time I was also showing shuffling when walking, slowness in eye movement and swallowing issues, things I hadn’t really noticed or connected but the neurologist clocked immediately.
so stiffness has been a big thing for me. It’s mainly fatigue now and it’s especially frustrating when my brain is ‘right let’s get up and at it today’ but my body is going ‘yeah, right’
Hi zah12. Very good question and I’m delighted to give you answers:
My biggest problem with PD is lack of balance. Also deafness. I’m about 80% gone now. Another irritation is the speed at which PD progresses. In my case I have succumbed in about 2 years.
Welcome to the group.
Parkinsons is a very weird disease, no two people go through it the exact same way.
It is sort of like a car.
All have basically 4 wheels, a steering wheel, but after that anything goes.
There are so many symptoms that can present in different ways.
An idea would be to go onto the Michael J. Fox website, and ask to take one of the surveys’.
There they take you through all the possible different symptoms asking whether you have them or not.
It will give you a very good idea of what you may experience.
Please remember the operative word is “may”.
There are so may people who are told they have PD then immediately go onto Google and google anything and everything they can imagine that relates to PD and then decide they have every symptom there is.
Remember there are some great things on the internet as well as some of the most inane things imaginable.
If you can find articles from sites like the Mayo Clinic or Cleveland Clinic their articles are factual.
I hope that helps a bit.