Welcome to the New Faces of Parkinson’s  Disease website

Where you will find information about Young Onset Parkinson's Disease.

My name is Laurel. I am 49 years old and live in Arizona. This website was developed by me; a Young Onset Parkinson’s patient, and is devoted to all of us diagnosed with YOPD.

The primary focus of my website is on Alternative medicine; working with Naturopathic physicians, Nutritional Information, diet and lifestyle. Although I do have information on traditional allopathic treatment, my interests are in finding out more about how we the patient, can do more to help ourselves in the fight against this disease.

I would like this site to be a place where you can come to seek information from alternative resources and traditional therapy sources and from others who are coping with YOPD. I believe we need to seek as much information as we can to help us cope with Parkinson's disease.  And how by becoming actively involved in your care, you may be able to change the course of the disease and its effect on your body by using alternative therapies; including exercise, nutrition & diet, physical therapy, massage therapy, mind therapy and the power of positive thinking.

The idea for this site has been formulating in my mind, since my diagnosis of YOPD last year. However, has come together after attending the June YOPN The National Parkinson Foundation conference in Phoenix, AZ this year. Click on the link to see Highlights from the conference via web cast.

When I went to the conference, I had no idea the affect it would have on me. I went there with the thought of meeting others who lived in the area. I wanted to learn about support groups and was curious to know if the medical community had anything new to report in the fight against Young Parkinson's disease.

When I arrived at the conference, I saw hundreds of young people with the disease; many had already started to become disabled by this disease.  Many had brought a family member or a spouse with them. I was not prepared to see the disabling affects it was having on these young people.  Many people were in wheelchairs and using walkers and canes to help them get around. It affected me deeply. 

Of course, I wondered if this would become my fate...however, I had already made the decision not to use the traditional medicines and had hope that alternative medicine would somehow be my answer for the future.

Like me, many of the attendees were newly diagnosed. They were looking for answers. Many more had been living with the disease for quite some time and they too were looking for answers. We all seemed to be looking for the same thing; we wanted someone to tell us how to get rid of this disease, or at least, how to better cope with this disease and give us hope for the future.

The main topic for the day was how exercise can have a positive effect on the Parkinson’s patient.

After listening to the main speakers at the conference, we broke down into smaller groups. The smaller groups were about specific topics relating to the disease.

There was a brief question and answer period after the lectures. It was during this question and answer period that I realized we all had something in common.

We all wanted to share our story and learn everything we could to help ourselves in the fight against the disease. We also wanted to know what the future would hold for us. Would we be able to grow old, without being severely disabled?

That is when it hit me; we need a place to come together to share our story of Parkinson’s. A place to look for Hope...comfort, support and the most up to date information about Parkinson’s disease. Whether we are fighting it with medication or alternative therapies, we all need to read about every possible way to combat the disease and what better way to learn about the disease, but from us, the individual with the disease.

With the above thoughts in mind, I decided to create this website, a place where we can all share our voice in the fight against Parkinson’s disease and find new innovative ways to help ourselves in this fight.

I am interested in knowing how you are coping with Parkinson's disease. Have you made the decision to use the traditional medicines, also known as the allopathic way to treat Parkinson's disease, or have you made a conscious choice to use Alternative medicine, or a combination of the two therapies together.

I would like to encourage you to send me your story of YOPD. I am asking you to send me information about how you have chosen to fight this disease. I would like to know if the therapy you have chosen is working for you. Do you feel that you are doing everything possible to help yourself?   Whether you are using the traditional medicines for Parkinson's or trying Alternative therapies as I am. I would like to know how they are working for you.

I believe that with all of the information that we can share here, we can become stronger in our efforts to fight this disease and make others aware of what this disease does to us and our loved ones. Making everyone aware of how important it is to find a cure.

We need to learn as much as we can from each other about this disease.

I urge all of you to visit the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Research Center to fill out the Parkinson's disease Registry. The purpose of the registry is to develop a national database for persons with Parkinson's disease. It will be used to facilitate the development of new therapies and healthcare services in order to improve the quality of life for people with PD.

              Continue part 2