My Name? Jus' call me, "Twitchy"...

In Michael J. Fox's autobiography "Lucky Man", he mentions that he has been called by his kids "Shaky Dad" due to his Parkinson's Disease (PD). My own son developed a nickname for me as well--"Twitchy". Since I am not as far as along as Mr. Fox in my PD, my symptoms are not as pronounced yet and I may still become "Shaky Dad". For now, I am just "Twitchy".

Back in February of 2007, there was a perfect storm brewing in my life. I was experiencing many life changes at once. I had been divorced for several years and trying to gain custody of my son. The process was starting once again about this time. In addition, I had just moved back to SE Missouri from Texas and starting a job for my company that involved a lot of traveling and unhealthy food (those who travel for business likely know what I am talking about). There were many pressures and changes to which to adjust. My blood pressure, for the first time in my life, was going out of normal range. My cholesterol levels were too high. My weight was too high. I felt depressed a lot of the time though, to be honest, I really did not have a particular reason to be depressed. Then, on top of all that, I had a slight twitch in my left thumb.

I went to a doctor in May 2007--three months after these physical issues appeared (I'm a guy...You wouldn't expect me to go right away would you?). He diagnosed me with depression and stress and asked that I get control of my diet and take Xanax. The Xanax did nothing for me, but with proper diet I was able to get the cholesterol, weight, and blood pressure down. The custody battle was coming to a close and I was developing a routine for my business travel. However, "Mr. Twitchy" was still there and more pronounced. My son would have fun with it from time-to-time and tape it to my palm to keep it from twitching. It reminded me of the gun fighter in the movie "Blazing Saddles" who, coincidentally, was also named "Jim". When trying to prove that he was a washed out gun fighter, he presented the Sheriff with his non-shooting hand first which was solid as a rock but then presented his shooting hand which was comically shaking all over the place.

In August, I went to another doctor to get another opinion. They thought the problem might be something called "essential tremor". Essential tremor (ET) is a more benign form of tremoring but is more of a "moving" tremor than a "resting" tremor. The tremor I had was only in one side of my body (my left thumb and now beginning to develop in my lower left leg) and only tremored when at rest versus when moving. I could easily stop the tremor by moving my thumb or by putting weight on my leg but it would slowly start back up again when I had the appendage at rest. While the doctor (and I) hoped it was ET, they wanted me to see a neurologist to confirm.

In September, the neurologist ran a series of short tests. He mainly asked me some questions about the symptoms (which were obvious--the more stressful the situation, the more the shaking occurs) and checked for muscular strength and stiffness. He asked me what I thought I had and then sat me down and told me that he was 99% sure I had PD. I actually took the news very well because not knowing was bothering me more than knowing.

My reaction is probably more of an exception, however. PD is a terrible disease. It can exhibit itself in different ways at first and then degrade into the other main symptoms. These include tremors, muscle stiffness, imbalance, depression, slowness of movement, and even more serious neurological problems. The exact cause is not known nor is a cure. It is known that the disease involves destruction of the brain cells that control muscle movement. If you want to know more about PD, there are many websites, but you can start here: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/parkinsonsdisease.html.

Currently, the twitching in my left hand has increased quite a bit in the last month. Others are beginning to notice more often than not the shaking. My left wrist gets very stiff and sore from all of the shaking during the day. I don't even notice the shaking as much as I once did until it becomes more severe. In addition, I go through bouts of unexplained depression. I get really down and anxious at times during the day for no apparent reason. To help control the PD, I have started doing some weight lifting and Tae Kwon Do to help build the muscles up which is one of the main methods of helping to offset the symptoms (exercise). I have not started any drugs yet and probably will not until the symptoms are so bad that I have to do so to perform daily duties.

So, that is how I got to this point. I encourage any of you who have PD or YOPD (Young Onset PD) to post comments. I will be glad to share with you more about my status with this disease. In future posts, I'll discuss more about the effects of PD on my life and the symptoms as they progress.

"Twitchy"