“You have Parkinson’s disease but don’t worry. It won’t kill you. It is a chronic and progressive illness, but we can treat it. Here are your prescriptions. I’ll see you in six months.”

I just began seeing another patient recently diagnosed with young onset PD. This exchange he had with his neurologist is, unfortunately, fairly common. Although a very harried doctor was trying to be reassuring, his new patient could only be described as terrified when he arrived at my office some weeks later.

Do a lot of marriages break up because of Parkinson’s?

A lot of marriages break up even when Parkinson’s is not present, so this a difficult question to answer. I have not been able to locate any good studies on this subject. All I have is anecdotal evidence from many discussions I have had in my office, support groups, and at PD conferences. However, I can say with confidence that there is a widely held belief that a lot of marriages with PD end in divorce. A belief can become a self-fulfilling prophecy regardless of its truth.