Observing Parkinson’s Awareness Month

Since 2010, April has been designated as Parkinson’s Awareness Month by the US Senate.  The goal is to shine a spotlight on the national impact of Parkinson’s disease (PD), which affects more than one million Americans.  A progressive disorder of the nervous system, PD is often marked by muscle tremors, muscle rigidity, decreased mobility, stooped posture, slow voluntary movements and a mask-like facial expression.

The 2011 Parkinson's Unity Walk Had Nearly 10,000 Participants and Raised Over $1.5 Million for Parkinson's Research

Parkinson’s activists been coming together for the last 17 years for the Parkinson’s Unity Walk, held annually in New York City’s Central Park at the end of April.  (The 2012 event takes place on Saturday April 28th.)  Now, with Parkinson’s Awareness Month surrounding it, there is a month-long effort to raise awareness and research funds.  One of the driving reasons is that PD complications are the 14th leading cause of death in the US.

PD was one of the flagship conditions at PatientsLikeMe, and today we have more than 6,100 patients who report the disease.  What are they doing to cope?  Some of the most commonly reported treatments include prescription drugs such as Carbidopa-Levodopa (Sinemet), Ropinirole (Requip), and Rasagiline (Azilect); procedures such as Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) and acupuncture; and supplements such as CoEnzyme Q10.  Click on each treatment to see how our patients rate the effectiveness, side effects, cost and more.

A Snapshot of the Parkinson's Community at PatientsLikeMe

We also have an active Parkinson’s Disease Room in our forum, where more than 7,000 patients are discussing 12,000+ topics.  To date, we’ve logged more than 100,000 forum posts about PD!  What are patients talking about?  Some recent threads include:

  • Do you have a caring doctor?
  • Dealing with sadness and stress
  • Knitting:  therapeutic or tortuous?
  • The neglected pain of Parkinson’s
  • Resigned from my job today

For more insight into living with PD, stay tuned for our interview later this week with PatientsLikeMe member Jim Atwell, author of Wobbling Home:  A Spiritual Walk with Parkinson’s.

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2 thoughts on “Observing Parkinson’s Awareness Month”

  1. I have been a member of PLM since 2008, I was diagnosed in 2006and had Deep Brain Stimulation surgery in May of 2008. This website is by far the most informative source I could have ever wished for. I have developed very good friends and have learned to open up and share about my Disease. The members on PLM are caring people, and no matter what the topic, or the time of day or night, there is always someone in the forum to talk with. WE have fun and laugh, we get serious and argue among ourselves, we offer help ,research answers for a member in need, and we cry and mourn the loss of one of our own. We have been known to throw a cyber party or two for a member whom is depressed, and we celebrate the joys in our lives. We have a long running thread that is done in poetry form, that is our igmagination gone wild. The information we share collectively is far more than what we learn from our Dr. about PD. But more than anything , its the cohesive nature of knowing we are not alone in this boat of PD and others really relate to what we experience. We get all this from Patients Like Me.!!!!

  2. My spouse completed the recommended Parkinson disease treatment plan last week, she is doing a lot better. There has been a total reduction of symptoms, improved coordination, I am really happy we made a good decision by using these herbal remedies,we ordered it from www multivitamincare org

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