YumaBev, who writes a blog called Parkinson’s Humor, posted a not-so-humorous story today about working with medical students and how long it took her to get diagnosed (8 years) with Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease (YOPD).  Thinking back to all of my health issues that began at least 10 years before my diagnosis, I have to wonder if the Fibromyalgia symptoms that I had, including muscle and joint aches, numbness and tingling, fatigue, shoulder pain and more, were a pre-cursor to or actually early symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease.

Researchers are looking for ways to diagnose Parkinson’s long before the obvious symptoms begin, since by the time the classic signs appear more than 90% of neurons in the Substantia Nigra area in the brain can be lost to the disease.   Earlier diagnosis will hopefully save much of us the time and frustration of being subjected to numerous unnecessary expensive tests and to better treatment before so much damage to the brain has occurred.

Take a few minutes to read YumaBev’s story at Parkinsons Humor

Make sure that you read  The letter that she sent to neurologists, desperately looking for a diagnosis.  Finding the right doctor can be the most difficult part of the path to wellness.  Once you have found the right doctor for you, it will make a huge difference in your life.  Thank you YumaBev, for working with our future doctors to teach them to think out of the box when confronted with an odd set of symptoms.

Share Your Story

Do you have a similar story?  Were you one of the lucky ones who found the right doctor immediately?  If you want to share your story here, send it to me at twitchywoman18@gmail.com.