Researchers also hope it will help doctors track treatment

Blood Test Aims to Detect Parkinson's in Early Stages

One goal is to "greatly" improve the accuracy of Parkinson's diagnosis through a combination of analysis of symptoms, brain scans and blood tests, Potashkin said. It would also help to diagnose Parkinson's in early stages and use blood tests to check its progress and see if drugs work early on, she said.

A blood test to diagnose Parkinson's would conceivably be "much less expensive and more easily accessible" than brain scans, said Julie Andersen, a professor at Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato, Calif.

nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/new...

[racerCP]

What is the purpose of early diagnosis when there is no cure???? I wish I had not received my diagnosis when I did because while I'm working hard to postpone further deterioration it is worrying and uncomfortable to know I have a progressive incurable disease.

[michaela13 in reply to racerCP]

I agree. Just a waste of good money for all these _____things that don't mean_____^^. Where's the cure? I believe that people are just making money off our unfortunate situation!

[earthdweller in reply to racerCP]

I completely agree with you racerCP! I don't actually have a diagnosis (yet?). I was frustrated when a few years ago the doctors I saw said things like "you're too young to have Parkinson's", and "the shaking you feel in your right side/the frozen feeling in your face is probably due to stress", although I have all the symptoms my mum had in the early days.

But even though I kind of "know", now I don't really want a diagnosis. At least not yet, while I can keep things manageable. Like you I don't want to be put on tablets unless I really have to be. I'm exercising lots and keeping active, and will see how I go. I see little point in knowing for sure at the moment, especially as I feel that I'm maybe in the very early stages, and the side-effects of tablets would probably outweigh the benefits.

I don't really want to know for sure! Seems like a silly thing, but I've been having very strange symptoms most of my life, and although it's something I wonder about a lot, I just tell myself it's best to carry on as normal. I know I'm trying to be in denial. But it works for me at the moment..

[racerCP in reply to earthdweller]

Earthdweller, there is no rush to get diagnosis for an incurable disease. Best to double up on healthcare, exercise, enjoy your life as fully as possible which I do after 1 year post RX and do everything as if you do have PD but no excuses for not working out, taking care of the business of life. I have read two obits in the NY Times recently which gave cause of death as Parkinsons but the deceased were 91 and 93. Between now and then we can kick up some serious life.

Best of luck and keep having fun!

[earthdweller]

Sometimes I think that a diagnosis would stop me wondering and worrying so much in some respects, but then would they get replaced with other worries? And then I think what good will it do anyway. And then I remember how difficult it was to actually get diagnosed when I was trying to! So it is all a bit muddly. But for now I just want to carry on living my life the way I have up until now, for as long as I can anyway.

I'm glad that you're enjoying life to the full. Exercise is great, and I appreciate it all the more now. I love those obits. Thanks for that. Let's hope we all have long, lives like those people. (Happy too. )