Tell me I don't have Parkinson's

I’ve freaked myself out a bit by googling why I am loosing weight, without trying, and shaking. Some of my symptoms point to Parkinson’s Disease. I just had my annual physical my doctor referred me to a neurologist, but I still have a month and a half until my appointment. I do not think I have Parkinson’s, but I am a bit concerned. There are other characteristics that say I do not have Parkinson's:

• I can smile and make expressions.
• My arms move when I walk.
• I talk loud.
• My writing is not small.
• I watch videos of Micheal J. Fox and I don’t have what he has.

Below are notes that I have jotted down to tell the neurologist:

1) Shaking – both hands. Dropping small parts when assembling things. I literally cannot assemble something without dropping half of the screws, nuts, springs and small parts. The harder I try to overcome this, the worse it gets. Physical activity makes it much worse. This is a problem! (It has gotten to the point of being extremely bothersome in the last year.)


2) My left hand (non-dominate) has shaken slightly since my 30’s. It’s never been a problem and the only reason I even remember it is that I have never been able to hold a coffee cup, by the handle, with my left hand. (20 years)

3) The back of my neck gets really tight, hurts and burns. Happens more often when I am stressed or rushed. It also happens when I’m just sitting at the computer playing a game without a care in the world. (10 years)

4) My shoulders (both) hurt in certain positions. It started with one shoulder. Discussed with multiple doctors and specialist. Nothing shows up on x-rays and I am given a cortisone shot or sent to physical therapy to get rid of me. Nothing works and I just live with it. (20 years)

5) My driving night vision has become very bad. It’s a lighting thing because I have zero problems in the daytime. Told my optometrist who said, “That is strange.” (7 years)

6) I grind my teeth at night so badly that it wears my teeth and breaks fillings. I wear a mouth guard at night, as directed by my dentist. The grinding is very loud, I’m told. Sounds like a machine gun. (10 years)

7) Can’t remember people’s names. Can’t remember names of roads. It eventually comes to me. I can tell you everything about a person and can see them clearly in my mind, their name just doesn’t come to mind. This is more than just occasionally not remembering someones name. I worked side-by-side with a guy on a project for two years. I know his name and used it multiple times a day. So one day I start to introduce him to someone and could not think of it to save my life. (5 years)

😎 Absent minded. If I start a cup of coffee in the Keurig, there is a 90% chance that I will forget to go retrieve it before it is cold. I have two Labs that share one really large water bowl. I put the bowl in the sink and start filling it with water. It takes awhile to fill so I start multi-tasking and completely forget to stop it and the water just keeps running. I make absent minded mistakes all day long. This is not me. (1 year)

9) I’m always bored and chronically annoyed. I also have anxiety.

10) I feel stiff from my neck to my hip bones. I feel stiff from my neck to my fingers.

11) In the past year I have had diverticulitis and vertigo. The shaking started long before these illnesses. Both really sucked but not really related to shaking.

12) I had COVID in December 2021. Lost sense of smell for 3 weeks. Was shaking before I had it but not to the degree that I do now. I don’t think it is related to the shaking.

13) I have Planter fasciitis and wear insoles to help with it. If I bend my right foot the wrong way while lying in bed, I sometimes get a foot cramp. (5 years)

14 Tinnitus and moderate-severe hearing loss in my right ear. The Tinnitus is very loud. Soul sucking, spirit crushing, never changing high-pitch tone played at the volume of a home smoke detector. I have a ridiculously expensive hearing aid that I don’t wear. Apple AirPod Pro 2 is, by far, the best hearing aids ever! (12 years)

15) I have Barrett’s Esophagus, and Barrett wants it back. (25 years)

16) My weight keeps slowly going down. Jeans that have been too tight for ten years suddenly fit. Thank goodness hip-hugger bell bottoms are still in style. I am not trying to lose weight. I eat the same huge portion unhealthy diet now, as I did a year ago. I walk for an hour a day, but only in the summer. I’ve went from 190 to 175 since January. I’ve been as high as 215 in the past three years. I’m short, so I’m by no means wasting away. (9 months)


17) I drink one cup of coffee a day, in the morning. Occasionally two. Other than that, I only drink water. Rarely do I ever drink alcohol.

1😎 Just had a physical and all was fine, except for the referral to a neurologist.

Now is not a good time for me to have something wrong. Maybe I should cancel the appointment with the neurologist and just be a 56 year old man that shakes a little more than normal.

I do not have a diagnosis yet and apologize if this post is inappropriate for this forum.