parkinsons diagnosis after car accident

[muggleton]

suffered a car accident about five years ago. high speed crash but no head injury at the time however next day suffered what seem to be a seizure where coffee in my right hand went flying over the floor and the whole body shaking violently and blacked out for a few seconds. Had  my partner with me who saw the whole thing. Put it down to stress of the car accident.  On return to work found it difficult to pitch poker cards and found my right leg shaking under the table. Again thought this to be the stress from the accident. 6 months later shaking had moved to my right hand and the simple tasks of brushing my teeth became a nightmare.  Thankfully an electric toothbrush solved that but the final result was a diagnosis of parkinsons from two separte neurologists about 1 year later.  5 years on and all the shakes and stiffness are still on the right side of my body. Is this normal? from what i have read i would have expected it to take over the left side, not that I am wishing for that. I refused to take any parkinsons medication until necessary only on propanol 2 per day for anxiety and to help the shakes at the time.  Wondering whether it is parkinsons or something else. mri of the brain proved clear.

[muggleton]

cannot find a neurologist that believes the car accident was responsible for my PD.  It seems so logical to me but they insist loss of dopamine must have started 8 years prior to first signs showing up. It amazes me that they can come to such a conclusion when they know so little about the cause and have no conclusive test for PD bar an autopsy on the brain.  Are you a specialist?  Do you know someone?

[Red_Star]

Head trauma can cause and exacerbate Parkinson's disease.  You do not have to hit your head on an object (steering wheel, windshield) to injure the brain. Even at moderate rates of speed, traumatic brain injuries can and do occur. Three separate processes work to injure the brain: bruising (bleeding), tearing, and swelling.  

Parkinson's may be suspected in patients with the following symptoms:

Slowness and difficulty of movement. These are usually the first symptoms, so the patient will be asked to walk and probably to get out of a chair, preferably a deep one. (Early gait disturbance, however, often indicates a disease other than Parkinson's disease.)

A tremor when their limb is relaxed. (As many as 25% of Parkinson's patients, however, will not have a tremor.)

Symptoms on one side of the body.

A powerful early response to the drug levodopa (the primary treatment for Parkinson's). It should be noted that some patients with a very similar condition called multiple system atrophy will have a good initial response to levodopa, but it is not usually sustained.

Many medical conditions may cause symptoms of Parkinson's disease:

Hardening of the arteries (arteriosclerosis)
Alzheimer's disease  
Lewy bodies variant (LBV), also called dementia with Lewy bodies
Encephalitis caused by influenza
Essential tremor
Progressive supranuclear palsy
Multiple system atrophy (previously called Shy-Drager syndrome)

Other problems that may mimic Parkinson's disease include Wilson's disease, thyroid abnormalities, vitamin B12 deficiency, hydrocephalus, tumours, having the fragile X trait (but not the full disorder), immune reaction to gluten, drug side effects.