April is Parkinson's Awareness Month.............
and Autism Awareness, and Cancer Control Month, Stress Awareness Month and Alcohol Awareness Month, Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Occupational Therapy Month.
Which disease is your flavour of the month? And I wonder why my local newspaper will not address my request for. a Parkinson's Awareness promotional spot, in April. We just have far more diseases, than we do months in the year.
Parkinson's is a lonely disease at best. Hard to diagnose, it has often not got its grips around its prisoner, until late in life. Hence, it is one of those diseases, like Alzheimer's, that in ones mind, only affect the elderly. It is part of the ageing process.
The other day when I was on one of my few outings, I saw a young teenager with a white t-shirt. It had a picture of a gray ribbon that said, Parkinson's Awareness, and beneath, "I'm wearing this for my Grandpa". At first glance I smiled, and thought, "Yes....very nice". Then it occurred to me that, that was the general misinformation that I have been banging my head against. Pd=grandpa=gray. Parkinson's has young people in its grip at this very moment, and most of us are unaware of this as typical....or just plain fact.
Young Onset Parkinson's, affecting those 10% diagnosed before the age of 50, does not jump to the forefront of ones mind when they think of Parkinson's Disease. Typically when one is diagnosed, they realize that they may have a;ready had the symptoms for many years . The symptoms that are first indicators are not outwardly visible, and as such, a tremor is usually when one seeks health care.
Some of the non-motor symptoms that often pre-date tremors, are difficulties with memory, word recall, organization of thoughts, loss of smell, difficulty making decisions, depression and anxiety, to name a few. Only when this whole picture is combined with the tremors, balance issues, and gait, rigidity, and other physical disturbances, is it generally considered important enough to refer to a Neurologist or Movement Disorder Specialist. In the mean time, many of us suffer years of battling the non-motor symptoms independent of each other, and in solitude.
Even with awareness of Parkinson's through the familiar faces of Michael J. Fox, Muhammad Ali, Linda Ronstadt, and most recently, Robin Williams, the first thing that comes to mind is the shaking. The tremors. Parkinson's is much more than that, and that is why education is so important. These famous faces are not faces of the elderly. So why are PD is nowhere near the forefront of other diseases, such as Cancer, or Autism?
Well....just look at the month of April. Packed full with awareness seeking diseases, syndromes, and the likes. In my local paper, we are more likely to see April as Autism month, or Cancer Control month. I guess Parkinson's Disease is just plain old vanilla when it comes to flavour of the month.
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