<h1>And the beat goes on. Some more trivia for you</h1>

As promised, here are a few more of my thoughts, having read the experts, on our frightful journey through Parkinson's.

1. Parkinson’s early onset symptoms, other than loss of smell, can involve sleep disorders (tell me about it - I average 4-5 hours a night), depression (not yet), anxiety (nope - I just let the world go by around me) cognitve problems (What? Me worry?), constipation (God, yes. With a bullet), bladder problems (not so much), digestive problems (sometimes).
2. So, what causes PD? Nobody knows. Genetics may be a factor in, the experts think, 5 - 10% of the cases but I have heard lately that genetics may play an even larger role (I can't give you the cite, I forgot to write it down). In my case, I believe that both my parents, in the years leading to their deaths, showed signs of PD, so maybe.
3. Researchers also think environmental factors, such as pesticides may rank highly in the catalog of woes enumerating the causes of PD. In my case, the community in which I spent much of my youth, would kill mosquitoes using the chemical, DDT. With great delight, a truck driven by a stone cold insect killer traveled up and down the streets, spitting out a dense fog of DDT. We young folk would run with aplomb in the midst of that fog. It did kill the mosquitoes and, it turned out, birds too. DDT was banned soon after but, had the damage already been done to the brains of the young'uns? Was there a time bomb implanted in our brains and the clock had started ticking waiting for our old age?
4. Did you know that among the very old, PD is non-existent? Why is this fact frequently mentioned? This statistic is usually used to support the the contention that contracting PD may not be a consequence of growing old. But, I wonder, how many people are aged between 110 to 120? The population must be very small. What are the odds of someone in that population having PD? They have got to be very long indeed, longer than the chances of being kicked to death by a duck!

All right then. No more today. S'long. Nap time at 2:27PM. Have I mentioned that excessive daytime exhaustion is just another of the little joys of PD?

Ah well, whatayougoin' to do?