Parkinson's disease entered my life
long before I was diagnoses, looking back I think it started when I
was about to turn 50. At the time I was an airline pilot and an avid
sailor. We had a 32 foot Ericson sailboat, I had the boat for 7
years, had spent most of my summers on it and I was very comfortable
moving around under sail. It was about that time I noticed some
balance problems, moving around the boat was becoming a little
uncomfortable. I was more and more missing steps and tripping. Let me
add here that I never drank when sailing, I would have something once
the boat was tied to the earth, docked, anchored, or moored.
Other things started happening slowly
but continued, depression, becoming stiffer, not moving easily.
Parkinson's has many, many non-movement symptoms. When I would do
anything physical I would sweat at an unbelievable amount. My blood
pressure became erratic, extreme dizziness when standing. Vivid
dreams, nightmares, moving and reacting to my dreams when asleep.
Occasionally punching my wife in my sleep. I started having problems
doing things I had been doing for years, learning a new airplane was
pretty much the final straw when I almost couldn't do it. Not long
before that I was diagnosed with depression, was being treated for
that, but at the time airline pilots were not allowed to be depressed
so I ended up having to retire early. It was shortly after that that
things really started to deteriorate.
I had to work so I started driving
truck over the road, had I not been depressed that would have done
it.Anyway, later that year actually it was Christmas morning 2007,
about 1:30 am, I got up to get something in the kitchen and
collapsed. I had a syncopy event, I passed out, got up and passed out
again. After a few minutes I was better but my wife made me go to the
emergency room, bringing on a tremendous battery of tests. Ctscans,
blood tests, stress ekgs, all ok. Not heart or stroke related. Neuro
physyc tests, all good. After all that I was given an MRI, finally
found something, a cervical spinal stenosis, the c4-6 vertabre were
completely closed off, no spinal fluid was flowing from my spine to
my brain. I was told one good fall could make me a quadraplegic. I
needed and got surgery. It fixed the stenosis but none of the
problems. During the testing process a strange name kept popping up,
Parkinson's. Usually in the words,”that doesn't nessicarily mean
you have Parkinson's”. After a while of being told that doesn't
mean you have it I began to think maybe I had it. Two or three more
years of tests all negative until my neuro gave me sinemet, a
levadopa drug used to treat Parkinson's, it it helped, that meant I
had it. It worked, I did, now after all the reasearch by us, we were
pretty sure what it was, this just confirmed it.
I will continue with my story soon,
living with Pd.
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