The diagnosis of Parkinson’s can be difficult to make, and
your experience is not uncommon. Parkinson’s can be a great mimic of many
common conditions and/or problems that arise in older people. Because of this,
it may be some time before a person is referred to a consultant neurologist, as
other options may have been explored first through other specialists. The
result for many people can be that they feel they have been living with the same symptoms for some
time before being given a formal diagnosis of Parkinson’s.
Tremor is perhaps the best known symptom of Parkinson’s but not everyone
experiences it, and some people have tremor caused by other factors. For
example, there is a common variety of tremor known as familial or essential
tremor which can be confused with Parkinson’s. Although special isotope brain
scans can be used to measure dopamine levels, and may assist diagnosis in
difficult cases, there is no simple laboratory test for Parkinson’s. Even a specialist
may not be able to be sure about the diagnosis until time passes and a change
in the overall picture makes the Parkinson’s more obvious or rules it out. Most
doctors will not want to say it is Parkinson’s until they are sure. This will
usually be when at least two of the three main symptoms (tremor, slowness of
movement and stiffness) are present.
