Re: New with Questions

[JULIE B <berchenbriter.julie@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Kathy Draeger wrote:
>
> My mother is in the hospital and just received a firm diagnosis of Parkinson's
> and they just put her on sinemet?.  She refused to see doctor's most of the
> time and the few times she did go they would say that it looked like she had
> PD but that they needed to follow her for a while to make sure.  She has
> tremors that started in one hand and then went on to her legs.  She walks with
> short shuffling steps and says that sometimes it feels like her feet are glued
> to the floor.  It is very difficult for her to get up out of a chair.  She
> also has severe arthritis in her spine as well as osteoporosis.  Her tremors
> started about 4 years ago, but she had a lot of muscle weakness and fatigue
> for about 16 years prior to the tremors.  She had a frozen shoulder about 20
> years ago.  This was followed by a lot of fatigue and muscle weakness, gastro
> paresis(the muscles in her stomach weren't working properly), bladder
> problems, and various other complaints.  Could all of these muscle problems
> and weakness been the early stages of PD even though the tremors didn't start
> until much later.  I am very concerned because I have been suffering from
> muscle fatigue and weakness for many years myself.  I was diagnosed with
> Chronic Fatigue Syndrome 10 years ago.  I especially have trouble with the
> right side of my body.  I get spasms in my right shoulder that affect my right
> arm and hand and my right leg gets very stiff and I find myself dragging my
> foot on that side.  I cannot walk very far without running out of steam and
> then my movements become very slow and stiff and my arms don't swing when I
> walk unless I make them swing.  Then I have to sit down and wait until I
> regain some steam. I do not have tremors at this time.   Is PD hereditary?
> Can it start with exhausion and muscle problems before the tremors begin?
>
> I have read before about a possible connection between PD and
> pesticides/herbicides.  When I was little we had a farmer's field directly
> behind our house and we had well water with the well being right on the very
> edge of the farmer's field.  Could this cause PD?
>
> Please excuse the length of this post but I am very concerned and upset right
> now.  Thanks for listening and I would appreciate any response.
>
> Kathy

Hi, Kathy,

When I was diagnosed (almost 9 years ago at age 41), I had been battling
occasional shoulder and arm pain on my right side for about 20 years. In
my early 20's my GP gave me a shot of cortisone which helped
temporarily. In my 30's an orthopaedist diagnosed the problem as a
"rotater cuff problem" and gave me a set of exercises to do which seemed
to help temporarily but the pain always returned even if I did the
exercises faithfully.  In my 40's when I was diagnosed with PD and
started Sinemet, my pain went away, and I have not been bothered by it
since.  My diagnosis came after I went to a GP (a different one from the
one I saw in my 20's) after I noticed a slight tremor in my thumb, a
lack of swing in my right arm, and the shoulder/arm/finger movement
problems noted earlier which had begun to affect my typing.  He referred
me to a neurologist who did several different tests to rule out other
possibilities and then had me try Sinemet which helped immediately.
Regarding any connection to pesticides/herbicides/well water, I grew up
on a farm and drank well water for 18 years from a well that was about
40 feet from a corn field. Also, a farmer neighbor of mine had similar
shoulder symptoms and was diagnosed with PD 15 to 20 years ago.  I
certainly don't want to scare you or add to your concern, but it sounds
like a possibility I would want to have checked out by a good movement
disorder specialist.

Let us know what you decide to do for yourself and how your mom is
doing.

Julie
49/9