Receiving the Script

You're probably reading this because you – or someone who is close to you – have experienced some of the symptoms of Parkinson's disease – the tremors, the freezing, the lack of control.

When you first went to a doctor and he examined you, he didn't give a chuckle and lightheartedly say, "Hey! Guess what? You've got Parkinson's, but there's no reason to worry."

Instead, he probably sat you down, and in a grim voice and with a sympathetic look, said, "I'm sorry to say that you have Parkinson's disease. This is a degenerative disease and your symptoms are going to get worse over time. Yes, we have medication that will slow the process down, but you should know that there are side effects involved."

That prognosis, quite rightfully, sounds like a death sentence – a movie script that ends in tragedy. What would be the natural reaction if someone received that kind of diagnosis? They'd go home, google Parkinson's, and get bombarded with ominous information and depressing photos and videos of Parkinson's sufferers and how they look and behave.

"THAT'S WHERE I'M GOING, THAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO ME!"

The script is now set in stone, and we, the actors, begin to play the role handed to us by the authority in the white coat. Our doctor has stamped our chart with Parkinson's – and he's stamped our soul with Parkinson's.

Without even noticing it, we begin to breathe less rhythmically, our facial expressions become more restrictive, our body language closes in or gets stuck, and before we know it, we've adopted the forms of Parkinson's. The result is that we've begun to act like a Parkinson's victim. Our performance is great – it could win us an Academy Award for the world's best actor with Parkinson's.

When Parkinson's symptoms rear their heads, we quickly lose our sense of self and our sense of confidence. W