[goldstategop]

Parkinson's isn't pretty but it can be controlled with appropriate drugs. At his age its amazing the Pope has a full schedule that would tax a 15 year old's abilities. Then again at 83 you should be able to enjoy whatever years left God has given you.

[wardaddy]

Parkinsons affect everyone differently. Some folks go for years with slight symptoms and the help of drugs.

Some dive right off the cliff and nothing helps and some are somewhere in between.

Parkinsons is really simply a generic label for a variety of neuro disorders that center around the lack of dopamine secretion is it not?

From what I've seen, the older...the quicker. It's been obvious to anyone that the Pope has had this for some time.

[ActionNewsBill]

Parkinson's isn't pretty but it can be controlled with appropriate drugs.

I've heard that marijuana might help.

Nearly half of Parkinson's disease patients who have tried marijuana say the drug helped relieve their symptoms, according to a survey of patients with the degenerative neurological disorder. Dr. Evzin Ruzicka, an attending neurologist at Charles University in Prague in the Czech Republic, reported the findings here at the Movement Disorders Society's Seventh International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders.

Marijuana May Ease Parkinson's Symptoms

[NYer]

At his age its amazing the Pope has a full schedule that would tax a 15 year old's abilities. Then again at 83 you should be able to enjoy whatever years left God has given you.

An excellent observation! I have followed EWTN's live coverage of the pope over the years. I am constantly amazed that, despite Parkinson's Disease and his advanced age, the pope retains excellent vision. Unless he wears contact lenses (which I strongly doubt), I have NEVER seen him wearing glasses, despite being asked to read sermons, give blessings in 80+ languages, or read the Liturgy of the Mass. Simply amazing! How many 83 year olds can do that?

BTW, tomorrow is the pope's birthday, but he does not celebrate it. The pope celebrates his patron saint's day. In the case of Karol Wotijcza (sp?), that would be November 2, the feast of St. Charles. However, he will use the day to canonize 4 more saints. What a pope!