Parkie 101

Hello Again
Now that I have been through the beginnings, and have made first contact.. Started my work with the Chapter.

I guess it is time to do a little Parkinson's 101. This will set the back ground for everything to come,
sorta like " the Marlies were dead. This must be remembered or nothing else will make sense " kinda thing.
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disorder associated with the loss of dopamine-generating cells in the brain. As of this moment there is no known cure. Anyone stating they have been cured of Parkinson's is just plain wrong.
I had a guy on Facebook declare in a Parkinson's Chat Group that God had cured his Parkinson's, and he no longer needed medication. There where two comments and no likes.
By the time you start to show symptoms, in my case the "tremor",  85 % of the brain cells that produce dopamine have died... RIP

When you are told you have Parkinson's and are told it is incurable there are two things you can do; you can find a big comfy chair and a blanket and never come out, OR  decide to live the rest of your life in the moment, with what you have today, and what you are today. But sometimes the chair is sooo nice.

PD is diagnosed mainly from the display of symptoms. There is no test, x-ray, MRI, Scan, EEG.
The list includes but not limited to...
Muscle Stiffness
Restive Tremor (Doesn't shake when you move it, only when you stop or are at rest)
Balance issues
When you walk either your right or left arm will not swing
Handwriting becoming hard to read and the writing itself gets smaller.

It does not take the neurologist very  long to diagnose PD.
Prompting my usually shy and reserved wife to say, and I quote "How in fuck can a doctor who's never seen you before, decide in 20 minutes that you have an incurable disease?" 

I am not going to list all the symptoms, (that's what the internet is for) but they fall into two basic categories, Motor and Non-motor.

So what now?
You treat the symptoms with ..... DRUGS.
There are basically two types of drugs used to treat PD.
They both come in various forms and names.
The first is the dopamine replacement, known as  Levadopa/Carbadopa, which works to replace the dopamine your body no longer produces.
The second is a dopamine antagonist, known as Merapex or Premapaxole, which stimulates the dopamine receptors to accept more dopamine. 

Each comes with it's own set of mine fields, also known as "side effects", which we will learn later are all kinds of fun.....