Shake, Rattle and Roll

Parkinson's Disease - Early Signs Checklist

My posts on the early warning signs of Parkinson's and end-stage Parkinson's continue to be the most popular among my readers. People want to know when Parkinson's begins and when it will end.

Mike from Florida found my list helpful and expanded upon it to develop a more comprehensive list. Needless to say, no two people with Parkinson's are alike, and neither will develop the same symptoms nor exhibit all of these symptoms. This checklist is a general guideline for personal use. Contact your doctor for medical advice, diagnosis and treatment.

Checklist Compiled by Mike from Florida

( ) A tremor when limb is relaxed (about 25% of patients, however, will not have a tremor)

( ) Aching muscles

( ) Anxiety

( ) Change in facial expression (staring, Iack of blinking)

( ) Confusion

( ) Constipation

( ) Depression

( ) Difficulty making decisions

( ) Difficulty standing up (rising from seated position)

( ) Difficulty swallowing (not swallowing food, but just saliva)

( ) Dizziness

( ) Drooling

( ) Excessive daytime sleepiness

( ) Failure to swing one arm when walking

( ) Fatigue

( ) Flexion (stooped) posture

( ) "Frozen" painful shoulder

( ) Joint stiffness and pain

( ) Limping or dragging of one leg

( ) Loss of balance

( ) Loss of sense of smell

( ) Micrographia (small handwriting), and difficulty beginning handwriting

( ) Muscle pain (not caused from exercise), primarily in the thighs

( ) Numbness, tingling, achiness or discomfort of the neck or limbs

( ) Random sharp pain in joints

( ) Short-term memory loss

( ) Sleep disturbance

( ) Softness of the voice

( ) Strange sensations in hands

( ) Subjective sensation of internal trembling

( ) Symptoms on one side of the body

End Stage Parkinson's Disease

I can't write about end stage Parkinson's Disease. With a mother-in-law who died from/with Parkinson's, a mother dying from Lewy Body Dementia, and me with Parkinson's who will eventually die from/with it, it is a topic too close to home (see Stages and Progression of Parkinson's Disease).

But Margot, a nurse specializing in gerontology, has clearly and objectively wrote about end stage Parkinson's on this site:

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Parkinson-s-Disease-2096/end-stage-parkinsins.htm

Death from/with Parkinson's is not pretty. It's a dirty job to write about end stage Parkinson's, but someone had to do it. Thank you, Margot.

Stages and Progression of Parkinson’s Disease

One of my blog readers asked me the following question about the stages of Parkinson‘s Disease (PD).

“We just found out my mom has PD and have had trouble finding the 'stages' of PD we keep hearing about. Is there anywhere we can find them?”

My Response:

The three primary measures of the stages and progression of PD are the Hoehn and Yahr Staging of Parkinson’s Disease, the Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale, and the Schwab and England Activities of Daily Living. They can be found at the Parkinson Association of the Rockies website at: http://www.parkinsonrockies.org/progression.html

If you are asking about when your mom might die, that’s an entirely different matter. I could be flippant and say that it is just between your mom and God or that your mom will die with PD and not from PD.

Frankly, my greatest worry is when and how I am going to die. The only blog posting that I started but didn’t finish was about dying with or from PD. Until I’m more comfortable with completing this blog posting, you’ll need to talk to your mom's neurologist and/or do your own research on this matter. Or perhaps this is one of life's mysteries.

Early Warning Signs of Parkinson's Disease

When a reader of my blog asked about the early warning signs of Parkinson’s Disease (PD), I was caught off guard. I know what full-blown PD looks like, but I’d forgotten what PD might look like before it may even be diagnosed. With a little research, here's a list of the early signs and symptoms of PD:

Change in facial expression (staring, lack of blinking)

Failure to swing one arm when walking

Flexion (stooped) posture

"Frozen" painful shoulder

Limping or dragging of one leg

Numbness, tingling, achiness or discomfort of the neck or limbs

Softness of the voice

Subjective sensation of internal trembling

A tremor when limb is relaxed (about 25% of patients, however, will not have a tremor)

Symptoms on one side of the body

Loss of sense of smell

Constipation

Depression

Anxiety