Was My Depression a Warning Sign of Parkinson's?

Looking back, Posy's bout of depression, anxiety, and akathisia (a kind of restless legs) may have been her first warnings of Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Did any of you tread a similar path through debilitating depression and crippling anxiety years before your diagnosis?

We know that it is one of the possible early signs of PD, and once you have experienced it, it follows you around like a "Black Dog." These are the words of Winston Churchill. He too suffered from periods of depression.^1,2

Posy also had migraines, frozen shoulder, aching limbs, fatigue, carpal tunnel syndrome, gut problems, and more. Is it possible these were also early symptoms of PD?

Suffering with anxiety

Posy has a family member who has suffered excruciating anxiety since an early age. They tried every medication imaginable, along with therapy.

Yet, the condition got progressively worse. One wonders if the drugs had taken over the victim’s brain and now they are necessary just to maintain a horribly awful status quo, yet never offering a cure.

Difficult to treat

Posy heard an interesting report on the radio saying that deep brain stimulation (DBS) was being trialed to help with severe depression.³

They said that in Parkinson’s disease patients, it was amazingly successful in improving symptoms. In depression, it was hoped to have a similar effect.³

Why, oh why is there no definitive and effective treatment, let alone a cure, for a condition which afflicts such a huge percentage of the global population? Depression and anxiety are terrible conditions. Why is it so difficult to treat these diseases without causing frightening side effects?

Medications for PD

So, then we have to ask ... is depression, anxiety, and Parkinson’s merely diseases of the brain? Maybe these diseases start elsewhere in the body, and the brain is the last organ to be affected?

Luckily there are medications to alleviate the symptoms of PD. Until these meds cease to have little or no effect, Parkies can lead "fairly normal" lives, in that they can function without shaking, or walk without freezing. Sadly, the symptoms of depression seem even more difficult to treat.

No time for an illness

For the past 3 years, Posy has been composing a musical. Day and night, sometimes 48 hours on end with no break. Posy has typed notes into her Sibelius program, composing songs, editing, rewriting, rewriting again.

Its premiere was cancelled twice due to COVID and lockdown. As soon as it was rescheduled, Posy was suddenly full of beans, enjoying every single minute of rehearsing with great actors and singers. Tra-la-la!

Life was quite wonderful. Posy had no time for an illness. Yes, she might take a short, 20 minute nap at about 5PM in order to carry on rehearsing until 10PM. But a month ago, she had only a few good hours in a day!

Is it all in her head?

Ah! So, was Posy’s miserable month of intense fatigue and anxiety "all in her head?" Was she just lacking the company of fellow creatives and a physical project? The adrenaline rushing through her veins seemed to keep most of her Parkinson’s symptoms at bay. No one she met could believe she had PD. Joyful times, indeed.

Posy does also wonder if God (rather than just adrenaline) is blessing her with a reprieve from illness to get her through this huge life event. Posy is scared that at any minute, her inability to do anything may return with a bang.

Secretly, she hopes that she had some temporary illness that presented itself like PD. Haha! How many of us have hoped that the diagnosis was a mistake?

Do you find it impossible to imagine feeling well when you are having a bad day? And you can’t really relate to how awful you felt once you feel good again? Do you ever feel a fraud? Well, now that the show is over, we shall see.