When to decide to get DBS ?

[jazzfan53]

Everyone is different in regards to what age you are and what stage you are at in the progression of the disease . When i went for the evaluation they thought that I was borderline since it's only on my left side, but I knew that I had to have it NOW - they only saw me when I was "on" and they had no way of measuring my mental anguish over the rapid decline I was feeling over the 2 previous years. So I did it and it was the best decision I ever made. But each person is different in what they can tolerate. I was 56 and felt I was still "young". I wanted to buy as much time as I could.

[srarndt]

The standard here has evolved fairly recently...within the last couple of years anyway. Up to that point the predominant thought was to hold off on DBS until you were no longer getting much value from your meds and that you were old enough, but not too old to be a viable candidate. Since then we have found more neurologists and nerosurgeons recommending it for younger patients who may not have literally exhausted all possible medications. Of course there are other criteria that I would recommend that you might want to discuss with a good and DBS savvy movement disorder specialist.

I had my DBS about 16 months ago and my only regret is that I could not have it done sooner. If, for example, I had it before I was forced to retire from my job...I'd stil likely be gainfully employed at that job instead of languishing at home on my disability income and worried about how we'll manage once my wife retires from her career. (I am currently 58 years old and was diagnosed about 6 1/2 years ago, after dealing with symptoms for about 2 years before being diagnosed.

Feel free to contact me for any further info about DBS.

Best wishes,

Steve (Bisbee, AZ)