Chrissy from Laurie

[Guest guest]

Hi Chrissy,

Thank you for your kind words. My motivation in sharing this

information is to help others who are in the position that I was in

a year ago. That is, newly diagnosed with PD (after being sick for

three years) and without a clue what it was or what it meant. All

that I knew is that I didn't feel well, was losing weight and that

no-one was willing or able to help. After having a diagnosis,

albeit a very controversial one, I was able to spend my free time

at work (which I have an overabundance of at times) educating

myself on all the whys and wherefores of the problems

associated with diagnosis, prognosis, treatment and

management. At first the information was very overwhelming but

as I was able to sort through and categorize the data, I was able

to see " the light " and to make sense out of some of it.

Because I work in the health field I am able to access private

on-line medical libraries. This allows me to get more information

about the disease....mainly, how doctors approach the diagnosis

and treatment of it. It has helped explain to me some of the

attitudes that we run into. The most important thing that I have

learned is that there is no one right answer for diagnosing or

treating this disease and that the doctors are pretty much

learning as they go.

I hope that I have been able to help others to understand things -

both from a technical / scientifical basis as well as why we get

the attitudes that we do from our health care providers. My

biggest fear though is that I may inadvertantly grossly

misrepresent some of this information.............

Laurie