Lucky me - my symptoms started on my left side. ✋🏼 Parkinsons usually starts on one side of the body (unilateral) but in later stages of the disease it is common for both sides to be affected. I feel extremely lucky to be right handed and have my symptoms mostly on my left side. Before I started meds my left arm had almost stopped working comple
tely, being extremely slow and not really responding to my signals. Had this happened to my dominant side I would have had a much harder time functioning. When my meds wear off my left arm and leg become slow and clumsy and it’s hard for me to walk and do things with my hands. But my right arm remains intact and I can get by and do most things using only that one. I can’t imagine how much harder things would have been if it were the other way around. I have tried finding out if there are any differences to disease progression, symptoms and prognosis for left- or right-sided symptoms, but very few studies have explored this and those that have are small and inconclusive. Researchers have found that there is more asymmetry between the brain hemispheres in PD patients than in healthy controls. Asymmetries in the brain make neurons in one hemisphere more susceptible to degeneration than neurons in the other hemisphere. And for now I am so thankful for my right side, hoping it will stay healthy for as long as possible 🤞🏼
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