Paxman: Putting up with Parkinson's

It was very sad seeing the struggle it is for him to do the University Challenge recordings - and I know he would hate to think that he was getting that reaction. It must be so frustrating for such a quick witted man to be so constrained now.

My husband has Parkinsons disease and I found it all very depressing. What is the point of being able to smell Parkinsons? It does not make the diagnoisis any quicker...my husband had all the typical symptons and he was not diagnoised for over 5 years. He was given excuse after excuse for his symptoms, frozen shoulder, trapped nerves, the list was endless...it was when I insisted he saw a specialist ( as I work with parkinsons disease patients) that he was referred....within 10minutes of being seen he was diagnoised... If we had told our GP that my husband had a parkinsons disease "smell" he would have laughed at us as he could not reconise the typical symptoms....Parkinsons UK stated that they spend millions on research but why is it that the drug recommended for Parkinsons which is meant to be the gold star treatment has been prescribed for over 50yrs....no advance on it...I feel that programmes like this give the public the idea that there is a cure on the horizon....which people like to tell us that my husband will be cured soon....sadly IF there ever is a cure it will be years and years away.....sorry if this sounds negative but when people have to live with someone with parkinsons disease and watch their loved being overcome by this cruel disease....these programmes do nothing to highlight what really goes on and in a way they give patients and the public false hope......

I believe Billy Connolly decided to get checked out because someone saw his shuffling gait on tv and made the effort to contact him about it.

Lucca

On UC you can see Paxman has that fixed look which Parkinson sufferers often have.

apparently this is why he was dx so quickly as his consultant neurologist watched the program!

He's recording the last episode of UC next week, Lucca after 29 years!

On UC you can see Paxman has that fixed look which Parkinson sufferers often have.

I didn’t find it moving or depressing I found it interesting and informative He s such a bullish man I think he would hate to think people found it sad
The meds he’s on would stop the shakes grandma70
My close friend was diagnosed about two years ago and she looks so much better since she’s been on medication she’s 77 same as me and says if the meds hold her for ten years (which the doctors have said they hope for) she ll be perfectly happy
Who knows there may be something new by then, before she was on the meds she had quite bad hand tremors in both hands She walked with a strange gait her knees going in and her ankles out sort of extremely knock kneed she had a lot of aches and pains in her muscles She has lost the tremors and now walks well and normally she has normal facial expressions she no longer looks dull and tired

Paxman could do with losing some weight

Grandma70s

I found it depressing, or perhaps frightening would be a better word. Paxman looked completely different from the way he used to look. On University Challenge he doesn’t look very different to me, apart from the white hair. It’s when you see him move that his illness becomes obvious.

The only thing I knew about Parkinson’s was that it makes people shaky. I had no idea about the other symptoms, the falls and so on. Paxman didn’t seem to have shaking hands.

I think there are two kinds of Parkinson’s and one doesn’t result in the shaking. My neighbour had it and she kept having falls so she’s now in a care home.

It was interesting

I really laughed at Paul Sinha joke to the consultant

typo: fat = fact

It was frightening, yes, but there was also hope.

The fat that Parkinson's could be smelt by the woman whose husband had it was very interesting indeed. Years later, academics at the University of Manchester have made a breakthrough by developing a test that can identify people with Parkinson’s disease using a simple cotton bud run along the back of the neck
www.theguardian.com/society/2022/sep/07/woman-who-can-smell-parkinsons-helps-scientists-develop-test

I found it depressing, or perhaps frightening would be a better word. Paxman looked completely different from the way he used to look. On University Challenge he doesn’t look very different to me, apart from the white hair. It’s when you see him move that his illness becomes obvious.

The only thing I knew about Parkinson’s was that it makes people shaky. I had no idea about the other symptoms, the falls and so on. Paxman didn’t seem to have shaking hands.

Very moving. Not depressing but still had me in tears. A giant cut down.

Thanks for the heads-up ladies.

Absolutely agree. Very moving.
Did you see one of his fellow “ballet therapy” dancers was a co-writer of The Vicar of Dibley?