Parkinson's -- the History...

This is a repeat of a post that I published in 2012 -- 5 years ago.  I am estimating that Charles has had active Parkinson's for 8 years or so.  I have people ask me from time to time about Parkinson's symptoms thinking that their family member might have it.  Charles is doing fairly well although he is on medicine for dementia.  We don't get much input from the Neurologist or his PA.  Their answer is usually "no change"; they update his prescriptions, take our money and send us on our way.  But I know he has changed.  We have reached a crossroad in our lives as we begin to close down our farming business and sell our farm.  But we are blessed in so many ways.

*****
6/4/2012 - Parkinson's -- the History

I’m not sure I could have done anything to have found Charles’ diagnosis of Parkinson’s earlier – doctors have told us we found it in the early stages but below are some of the things I could have noticed up to two years prior.  According to UK research, it doesn’t appear that Parkinson’s is hereditary – instead it is linked to environmental factors – but anyway – this documentation is for my children and others who are interested, just in case.  Thankfully, Parkinson’s does not seem to have affected him mentally.

#1 – Muscle stiffness.  At the time of my retirement in 2008, Charlie and I were very active hill-walkers and had lost quite a bit of weight.  He was a very fast walker and I had to take lots of quick baby-steps to keep up.  Then, we both became couch potatoes when Dana Kate was born in 2009 and we became the babysitters.  In the summer of 2009, we went to the park to pick up where we had left off the summer before and it was very noticeable that he could not keep up with my pace.  We both thought it was knee problems, back problems or the fact that we were now couch potatoes.  The thing I should have picked up on is the way he held his body – very stiff in his walk and did not swing his arms normally -- definitely a symptom of Parkinson’s.

#2 – Swallowing.  Somewhere in that same time period, he began having swallowing problems.  He would choke on certain foods and complain that he didn’t have enough moisture in his mouth.  Beef was particularly bad and he was careful to have water close by and many times had to run to the trash can when eating – the food just wouldn’t go down.  He went to the family doctor and to the allergist seeking answers.  Neither picked up on the Parkinson’s.  The allergist told him he didn’t have allergies; however, he prescribed Nasonex and Allegra, allergy medications and of course, neither helped.  The allergist recently told me that people normally have this symptom at the worsened stage of Parkinson’s – not the beginning.

#3 – Active Dreams.  He also began having very active dreams around that time and had never been a sleep-talker in the past.  His talking and yelling got pretty bad and I started sleeping in the girl’s room so I could get some sleep.  I attributed this to cop shows he liked to watch or situations he had to deal with from time to time as an elder.  Yes, I have heard him preach in his sleep.  Active dreams are a symptom of Parkinson’s.

#4 – Voice volume.  The most disturbing symptom for me was that he began to lose the volume of his voice.  This was affecting his ability to talk publicly and teach at church.  I understood that he might not be loud enough but I could not understand why it would strain his voice.  He would attempt to do announcements at church and not only could I not hear him but I started noticing a slur in his voice where his words were running together.  I thought he was just a lazy talker.  A couple of instances occurred at church where his voice would hurt when he came home.   At one event, it broke my heart when some ladies were yelling to him to speak up and like a whipped-puppy, he simply said, “I can’t” and quit talking.  My heart broke for him but I still did not suspect Parkinson’s.  I did have a concern about throat cancer.  

#5 – Tremors.  I did not notice the shaking until a few months before the actual diagnosis was made in 2011.  About the same time, he started complaining that he had to tell his right hand to do things – such as holding the steering wheel while driving. 

#6 – Drooling.  I would have never dreamed that drooling on the pillowcase at night was a Parkinson’s symptom.  I have been told that this normally occurs late in the disease.  However, in this early time frame, I could not keep the pillowcases clean.  I know it was Parkinson’s because it stopped when he began the medication.

#7 – Handwriting.  Again, this didn’t jump out at me because he has never had good handwriting.  But the thing I should have picked up on is that he sometimes could not read his own handwriting.   The first word of a sentence he writes is normal and the size dwindles to the last word being tiny and unreadable.

#8 – Dandruff.  I didn’t realize this was a symptom until I read the list below.  I thought it was because he didn’t rinse his hair well.  And it's not actually dandruff, more like pocket fuzz.

#9 – Fatigue.  During this time frame, he also became more noticeably messy.  He has always been messy – leaving his trash when he worked on a project.  It suddenly seemed that he was always leaving every counter, dresser, sink a mess.  An article that I read explained that fatigue causes them not to follow through.  They start something, tire easily, and leave their disorder behind.

Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease from WebMD

• Muscle rigidity
• Tremor
• Bradykinesia (mask-like appearance)
• Inability to swing arms while walking
• Loss of balance
• Forward or backward lean that can cause falls
• Stooped posture (when the head is bowed and the shoulders are slumped)
• Head shaking
• Voice and speech changes (voice will become softer with poor enunciation)
• Loss of motor skills
• Memory problems
• Changes in handwriting (smaller writing)
• Constipation
• Depression
• Feelings of fear and anxiety
• Confusion
• Dementia
• Fatigue
• Drooling
• Skin problems, such as dandruff
• Difficulty swallowing and chewing
• Sleep disturbances
• Urinary problems
• Sexual dysfunction