YOUNGEST PERSON DIAGNOSED WITH PD

[Anid]

I am just wondering how old was the youngest person to be diagnosed with PD? Should someone maybe knows?

[Hidden]

Found on the net PD Australia. Hope it helps

Juvenile Parkinson’s

The first reported case of Juvenile Parkinson's was in 1875, by Huchard. The case was of a child of 3 with all the clinical features of PD. This was followed by a series of reports of isolated cases, showing PD symptoms, which showed strong familial signs. In 1910, Willige published a series of 14 early-onset cases, 6 of which were familial. His youngest case was 18 years of age. He believed that the patients were all affected by true PD. At this stage early onset of PD was being referred to as "Paralysis Agitans Juvenilis Familialis". Reports of Juvenile Parkinsonism have now appeared in medical literature frequently enough to provide a picture of a disease which has an onset of 3 30 years and which shows very similar clinical features to idiopathic PD.

The youngest reported case of PD is that of a 10-year-old girl from Oklahoma, who showed her first symptoms at age 2. It took doctors 7 years to diagnose PD, and she is now on an anti-parkinsonian drug regime that allows her to participate fully in school life and extra-curricular activities.

Following the advent of levodopa therapy, reports of Juvenile Parkinson's from 1960 emphasised the effects on the individual of drug therapy. These reports also showed cases of familial PD which were treated with levodopa. These responded, at least initially, in the same way as older patients who were on the same therapy. Martin, 1971, reported a case of two brothers who developed the disease at 10 and 19 respectively. They showed signs of stooped posture, shuffling gait, mask-like facial expression, resting tremor and rigidity. Both improved significantly with levodopa therapy but soon developed response fluctuations and abnormal involuntary movements. This peculiar phenomenon appeared in a matter of days and is the first mention in the literature of a characteristic pattern of treatment response in early-onset Parkinsonism.

[Anid in reply to Hidden]

Ho Owdsod, thanx for this very interesting piece.

[isis6361]

There are children with Parkinson's in some countries and in the uk there are children some as young as 14 but these are rare. However people I. Their twenties thirties and forties are not nusual

[mikaele]

I was in my mid 30s. Im 44 now

[quirkyme]

in the USA 'young onset' groups are being set up at least in the Northeast. This population has significantly different life challenges than those who were diagnosed later in life.

[froggatt55]

Hi Anid - I have read that someone as young as 18 was diagnosed with Parkinson's may God take care of them - it must be awful. was lucky that I was 59 when "the beats" came nocking.

[fronya69]

i had my 1st symptoms in 1965 at 8 yrs.old. dragging of my left foot. always bumping into things, and no one who knew me would let me sit and eat in their living rooms, because i always spilt or dropped my food or my drink. By 1994 my symptoms really started w/my left foot big toe went numb. drs. thought i had ms. 2001 i was dx. with p.d.! My mom and dad both had p.d, and my moms baby brother had ms.

[Anid in reply to fronya69]

Hi Fronya69

[Anid in reply to fronya69]

Hi Fronya69, I can also remember that as a child, I was always bumping into things. In which country do you live? My sisters daughter has MS - she is now in her 40's. Round about 2003 I suffered from severe headaches, and the neurologist I went to was worried about white spots on my brain and he did tests for MS, but it was negative. I was diagnosed with PD in 2010. I am so surprised to see so many people has PD. So many people my age (62) tells about grandparents or parents who had severe tremors. My mom died 6 y ago, and she had tremors on her left side. I am sure it was the onset of PD. She was 78 when she died. Never diagnosed - she also had a weak heart.

[fronya69 in reply to Anid]

Anid, sorry to hear bout ur mom. I really believe that GENETICS, and stem cells r going to b our find 4 a cure and new ways of treating PD. This is only my opinion. This disease really stinks. Hope 2 continue to hear from u with updates. U chose.a very good web site to vent on! Fronya

[AB-Normal in reply to fronya69]

Hi there fronya, You sound like me..... my first symptoms showed up in approx. 1974/75 when I was in the 9th grade.....and yes, I was always dropping food/drink... in the 1980's came the Bradykinesia, and tremors.... along with a neurologist's opinion that it was "all in my head" as according to him, I was much too young for it to be Parkinson's. I kept hitting that same barrier till about 6 years ago, when my current PCP sent me to see a MDS.... and let's just say that after an hour or so of exams, she sent me home with a script for a "trial" of 25/100 Generic Sinemet..... that included 12 refills............... and yes, I am the 6th person on my mom's side of the family with PD, in 4 generations......

[SufferingSocks in reply to fronya69]

Hi Fronya69 - that must have been terrible for you when you were young coping with those symptoms - I hope you were strong enough not to end up with emotional problems as a result. How old were your parents when they got PD? It's a revelation to me knowing that so many young people contracted the disease. My husband has only recently been dx with PD although he's had symptoms for some years and I now have a trembling jaw and pinky which I'm fairly certain will lead to a PD diagnosis when I see my doctor this week as I had jerky twitches in my legs last night. Although I've been very emotional of late I realise that I have to cope with things and enjoy the rest of my life in spite of having PD. I'm so glad I joined this Forum as it's helped me so much this year - 2018.

Suffering Socks

[JohnPepper]

Hi Anid. As you may know from elsewhere, I was only diagnosed at age 58 but the symptoms started at age 29. That is not the earliest I have heard of. M.J. Fox was in his late 20's when he was diagnosed, I think.

Go well!

John

[paddyfields]

In the UK Matt Eagles was diagnosed at the age of eight and is now in his forties I believe

[Hidden]

Matty the Eagles by the way is a top top bloke!! and a fine Photographer, PD has not stopped him maxing his life

[SufferingSocks]

Hi Anid - It's an interesting topic you brought up and I've not had an afternoon nap today as I wanted to read all the replies before my poodle wanted her afternoon walk. I didn't know anything about PD apart from knowing that Michael J Fox was diagnosed at quite a young age. In the last couple of months I've learned quite a bit from this forum - hubby is 79 and dx quite recently but has had symptoms for years and I'm 76 and have symptoms now. We don't know of any close relatives with PD but hubby's mother was adopted so there could be a connection there for him. Suffering Socks, 2018

[PDBuddy]

My best friend ,whom I shall not name only because I have not asked him yet, showed signs of having it at the age of six but was not officially diagnosed with it until the age of twelve. He is currently 39 and it's been getting increasingly worse as of late. they say that by the age of 45 or probably in a wheelchair and hardly able to walk on his own but that's okay we're planning on getting him an electric wheelchair and we wagon for the back of it to ride around.