The next day I was fine! How can that be? How strange!? Maybe it was a MS flare up? So, I went to my neurologist and he diagnosed it as MS with Parkinson’s symptoms. I just couldn’t believe it! Just the word Parkinson’s scared me. My Dad had it and he suffered for 18 years

But, I have to tell you I didn’t have that symptom for a couple of months. I did have slowness of movement and it took me longer to get ready for events or to Yoga class than usual. I did not understand so I went to a Parkinson’s specialist. I wore high heels, not something someone with Parkinson’s would wear. He was so surprised that I would have Parkinson’s. He couldn’t believe it. I passed all the tests to determine if a did. I passed with flying colors! I was so ecstatic but just to be sure, he sent me to Hopkins for a DAT scan. That measures the amount of dopamine that was in my brain, the neurotransmitter that your body makes to send messages between nerve cells. It affects learning, sleep,mood, motivation, control of nausea, pain, and especially movement. And those are just some of the symptoms. Most people think of tremors when you say Parkinson’s. It has a cognitive component too. There are non-physical and emotional components too. Anxiety and depression are major symptoms. I was losing dopamine daily and it show up in the DAT SCAN.

The problem is that people don’t believe you because if you don’t have tremors, you look normal. One of my blogs is called “But you look good”! I feel as though it’s an invisible illness.

That was sixteen years ago. What a day! But I learned that MS goes into remission and it’s like you never had it. Also, being religious with the medicine you rarely flair up. I was in the first stage and have been in this stage ever since. I could still play golf, tennis, dance, and could do everything just as though I didn’t have it. However, in October 2015 at a wedding with my boyfriend, something strange occurred. I couldn’t lift my feet up off the ground. It was so scary. It was like my feet were in cement. My boyfriend had to carry me to the car and carry me into the house.