<h1>All the world's a stage - Warning: Don't read if you are easily depressed</H1>

We all want to know how much time we have left before we lose our independence. The fact is.....nobody knows.

Two doctors, Hoehn and Yahr, developed a scale that divides the progression of PD into five states which are:

1. Stage one - mild impairment, does not interfere with daily life, medication controls symptoms which are usually on one side of the body only.
2. Stage two - moderate impairment, typically symptoms are on both sides of the body. May have some balance issues and other issues might arise such as masking (loss of facial expression), problems with swallowing and talking.
3. Stage three - symptoms are present along with loss of balance. Falls are not uncommon. Still independent and drugs still can control the symptoms or reduce their severity.
4. stage four - Independence is waning. Might require a walker. Should not live alone because of falls.
5. Stage five - the final stage, hallucinations, falls, freezing, around the clock care, wheelchair. Bad news isn't it? But, if you are like me, you just figure you will never get that far.

By the way, nobody can predict how long each stage will last. It will vary from person to person.

You didn't heed my warning, did you. Now you are depressed. Well 2 things to think about - MJF and Muhammad Ali - both have lasted 2 or so decades with semi-normal lives.

Some doctors don't like this method of describing PD because it focuses on movement and, as we can attest to, PD is so much more. These doctors use the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale. It is too long to replicate in this blog, but you can find it HERE