A Life With Parkinson's Disease At 25 Years Old
photo credit: michaeljfox.org
It all started when I felt like something was wrong with me, ever since college or maybe even way back high school. My body have always been abnormally stiff which affects my posture, the way I walk and the way I do things in general. I am clumsier than usual, I talk weird because I stutter a lot and I lose my balance even when I am just standing and doing nothing. I thought that those are just one of those days when I feel tired and my body is weak, until it bothered me since what happens occasionally happens almost every day now. I thought it was just rheuma or something. I have no idea what was happening to me, but I was sure that something was wrong. I started searching the internet for answers. I googled the symptoms, and was hoping for an advice on what to do, how to rest effectively, or home remedies I can do to relieve tiredness. A special massage would be a great suggestion if google told me that, but apparently it is not as simple as I thought it was. Based on my research I was experiencing tremors. For readers who don’t know what a tremor is, a tremor is an involuntary movement of the body, a consistent trembling which leaves the body tired and restless. There are lots of tremor-related diseases with the same symptoms I was experiencing, and with the things I have read and learned through the internet, I immediately knew that I needed a doctor.
I first went with my lola to her doctor who specializes in rheumatoid arthritis. I randomly went with her during one of her checkups and had myself checked as well. When the doctor checked on me it was so quick for her to tell that she was not the doctor I needed. She immediately referred me to a neurologist with a clinic in the same hospital. Too bad, that doctor wasn't in his clinic the same day we were there. Having to schedule some other day with the neurologist felt like a year, I was already being impatient as I was getting uncomfortable about everything my body was feeling that time. Believe it or not, as simple as trying to get a sleep during those days was so hard for me because tremors were keeping me awake.
After half a year of check ups and lots of laboratory tests in the hospital, the doctor finally have a result. A result I have been waiting months ago. The doctor started explaining things to me and before confirming anything to me he started it by saying the words "the only thing that's stopping me is your age" but in the end it's still the result I expected, since I kind of already knew what it was. I was diagnosed with parkinson's disease days before my 24th birthday, I remember that day clearly, it was the month of August in the year 2013.
Good news, meds are effective! So far so good! I have been trying to live a normal life. My body has been feeling relaxed for the past year. The tremors are definitely still there, but I thank God that it is not as bad as before. I still don't know how this disease will progress, hopefully not that quick, but right now my focus is to get out there live life 'til I can. Because life is f*cking short to be sad on something you can't control.
