Les, slow down my friend. You are 68. 12 CL pills still leaves you quite a ceiling to hit before any major symptoms arise from the side effects of them. Yes, the whole shakey 'Michael J. Fox' thing is from CL. He was diagnosed at 29 in 1985 or so. It was the only treatment. It worked. Still works, but now we know what it causes w/ repeated, continuous use. It's hard to do, I know, but relax my friend. DBS is a long way off if ever an option.

Very interesting thread. Im 77 now, i was diagnosed in 2021. I dont have tremors but do have many other symptoms. I started CL at 3 25/100 timed release a day. A year later my neurologist added 2 Selegeline, one in the morning and one at noon. Last month he added one immediate release tablet first thing in the morning and a fourth CL timed release at bedtime. It all works well for me.
When I read some of your stories I feel guilty that my case has been rather mild so far.
My cousin had DBS surgery. He was off work quite a long time. The day he finally returned to work at USAA in San Antonio, he was let go. Three years later he passed.
Something I'm learning is that nearly every PD case is different.
God bless you all.
Carson

The dementia makes me think it could be a reason I've forgotten so much lately

Thanks Tim I'll be 70 in a few months

In my case, I was the youngest patient that many neurologists have been puzzled with understanding why I experienced symptoms at such a young age of 13. So I was diagnosed in 2004 at 18. After I had my daughter in 2006, my neurologist recommended that I consider doing the DBS just on the left side of brain (2007) when I was 21 because I was so young. From his perspective, it was better to get it done sooner than later. As for what the guidelines are becoming a candidate, I have the slightest idea but my second DBS was done in 2010 on the right side of my brain 🧠. So I guess it depends on your neurologist and how severe your PD symptoms are and its progression because of my age of diagnosis I fall into the category of Young Onset Parkinson’s disease. Plus in July 2004 I had miscellaneous blood test done by an Agnostics Testing Lab and the results determined that I carried the Parkin mutation gene so every PD patient is different. I remember I was on 20 different medications at once.