The goal of My Parkinson's Info is to give you information about treatments and other activities that may help you cope with Parkinson's disease. There are certainly no absolute promises with any treatment. However, you and your neurologist can explore treatments most likely to benefit you. One day you may discuss having surgery, which is a big decision. Nevertheless, for many people, the benefits of surgery outweigh the costs almost immediately. Still, surgery can be painful and uncomfortable. Some patients may even experience unforeseen complications. There are also some patients who do not achieve the gain they had hoped for. For Parkinson's disease there is a surgical procedure, deep brain stimulation, that benefits many patients. I have seen a number of stories in many newspapers that report the successes of deep brain stimulation.
Today I read another account of a patient, Bruce Dunwiddie, who underwent deep brain stimulation surgery in 2003. Click here to read about Bruce. He continues to have positive results after deep brain stimulation.
Of course, deep brain stimulation is not for everyone. Your neurologist can educate you about it as related to your particular situation. Your neurologist can also help you know what your expectations for improvement may be, and what the associated risks of the surgery would be.
