<h1>“HERMIT, n. A person whose vices and follies are not sociable.</h1> -Ambrose Bierce

I am considering becoming a hermit, at least to the point of avoiding social events. What's the use. My mind thinks brilliant thoughts (IMHO) but when I want to release those thoughts in the form of the spoken word, something happens that I really don't appreciate. I come out sounding like a moron because,

1. My voice gets soft and quiet and a person sitting across a table would have trouble hearing me
2. My head starts to spin and I can't find the words that show off my brilliance
3. A tremor appears in my jaw that causes me to stutter.

Of course this doesn't happen too often, only when I am in the company of people who are not my wife. Everybody understands that I have a condition and they are very polite as they try to appear not to notice the tremor, the loss of memory, etc, but I know what they are doing and I am embarrassed by my performance. Ergo, from now on, I may go to the social event and be alone with my thoughts because I am not going to open my mouth for anything but sustenance.

Dysarthria, meaning speech problems, is considered to be one of the major symptoms of PD. Estimates of the prevalence of dysarthria in the parkinson's tribe range from 60 to 90 percent of PWP suffering some form of speech impediment.

Here of the kinds of problems that can wreck the social life of a PWP:

• Reduced volume of speech which is usually the first change that takes place related to problems with speech. The person tends to speak too softly although he may feel that he is speaking in a normal tone of voice.

• Fading of voice where the initial speech starts in a strong voice but tends to fade as the person keeps on talking.

• Monotonous speech is when the person speaks in a flat voice, with no variation in tone or expression.

• Fast rate of speaking where speech is too fast, with words and sentences running into each other without a break, giving a rushed quality to the speech.

• Hesitation in speaking is when the person has problem in initiating speech, often due to difficulty in word finding.

• Slurred speech where the speech is unclear, with endings being trailed off or omitted.

• Voice quality may become hoarse or tremulous, or there may be indistinct articulation of words.

• Muffling of voice may be increased due to drooling.

• Repetition where there may be uncontrolled repetition of words or phrases while speaking.

“A fine line separates the weary recluse from the fearful hermit. Finer still is the line between hermit and bitter misanthrope.” ― Dean Koontz, Velocity

I fear I am headed in that direction. But hey, what me worry!