Who Gets Parkinson's and Why?

In your twenties, life rolls along punctuated by the golden achievements of University degrees, post-graduate studies and employment and the excitement and joy of marriage, plus the difficult decisions concerning emigration and terrible sadness of missing home. Someone you know gets married or gives birth, (hurrah!) A friend falls to his death (hard to process that one). Someone's grandparent gets cancer, (oh, no!) and a friend of the family dies. Your boat is rocked, but as you are full of enthusiasm, youth and onward motion, your life continues apace. Forward, forward.

In your thirties, health issues arise, but migraines and joint problems are a cross you can bear with the determination and self-belief of a young adult, and medications. Back to the forward motion. You exercise. Sometimes you are conscientious, sometimes not. No worries: if you put on a couple of pounds, you can always cut back on carbs for an important event. Being slim and beautiful is the goal; good health is just a welcome by-product.

The work-work-work imbalance

In her forties, Posy really tried to continue to exercise three times a week, but long hours at work made her hungry and tired. Once her daughter had left home, there was no way she was going to shop on the 45-minute drive home to buy ingredients to cook a healthy meal just for herself; no way she could drive even further, to work out in the gym or pool and get home needing a shower and hair wash at 10.30 pm.

On dark nights in particular, Posy would often just go straight home, and just about manage to make some toast and peanut butter (fiber and protein!) with maybe a side of potato chips (veg?) and then search for some chocolate (tryptophan?) then go to bed. The next morning, at 5:40 am, the alarm would rouse her to start the day again.

Looking back, Posy realizes that the ten years leading to her Parkinson’s diagnosis were peppered with irritating and time-consuming trips to the GP, and disruptive foot or hand operations. Posy felt that this was the price she must pay for not living her best life.

Complications may arise

There was always a little voice in Posy’s head that warned, “Watch out! You can’t keep putting off that day, you will start to take more care of your health.” Posy would worry, but she was chained to the wrong kind of treadmill: This was one of busy-ness, striving for excellence and stress. Also, a sort of complacency would kick in: Posy came from a healthy family, many of whom had lived almost to 100. Why should she be any different When the day came that Posy found out that she was not going to be allowed to get away with this any longer, she did wonder "WHY?"

Parkinson's diagnosis

Why was Posy ‘punished’ in this way? Lots of people had worse genes and lived far unhealthier lives. How did they not succumb to Parkinson’s Disease, or something worse? Posy was hardly a sedentary, binge-eating, couch potato! Posy was definitely better off eating less rather than more. She was slim and had no vices (except maybe chocolate). She had never smoked, had never touched recreational drugs or been promiscuous. Posy eschewed fizzy drinks (didn’t like the taste), and, although she liked a glass of red wine occasionally, she usually drank only water or tea. Although Posy was lazy about feeding herself, she had plenty of healthy, balanced hot meals with family and friends each week.

Posy was part of a close, loving family. She went to Church and helped to run the Sunday School. She kept up with her acting pursuits. She had wonderful friends. Although she was not a consistent exerciser, Posy managed to do the odd ballet, tap, Pilates or Yoga class, swim a few lengths, walk in the countryside, and manage to stay fit enough to win the mothers’ races at school sports days. In Posy’s music work, her vigorous conducting and performing required rigorous academic analyzing of musical scores. This must have worked out her “little grey cells” and burned a fair number of calories! Posy’s composing of songs for musicals surely stimulated every creative part of her brain?

Why are more people not afflicted?

If Posy should have been struck with the incurable Parkinson’s Disease in this way, surely many, many thousands of her peers would have been, too, and yet Posy still knows of not one other PWP (Person with Parkinson’s) from her friendship groups; oh, that is, except for her college boyfriend. Posy will not be indelicate enough to explore here any connections therein. Why wasn’t everyone whose lives were less healthy, or even on a par with Posy’s, diagnosed with this painful, worrying, inconvenient, incurable, tiring, incapacitating condition? The population should be declining even more drastically from the age of 40, and the number of deaths from PD-related factors should be even more significant!

Finding the crucial trigger

What really triggered this neurological disease in Posy’s brain? Posy has read many times about the gut-brain connection and feels that maybe as she was genetically pre-disposed to anxiety and other nervous system complaints. As she did not follow the same sporty, sensible-eating route through life taken by her parents, she may have, in part, brought this disease upon herself. However, she is not wholly convinced. Wouldn’t it be great to get the whole, world-wide Parkinson’s community together and find out? It could be done online with polls: Just as this website regularly asks us a question such as “What aspect of Parkinson’s affects you the most?” Surely, we could be asked questions about our previous life histories in order to record similarities among our genes or habits?

Let’s find out WHO gets Parkinson’s and WHY?