My Dad's first cousin had Parkinson's-like symptoms. However, by the time he died, the doctors seemed uncertain about whether he actually had Parkinson's or not.
How about autism? Some doctors apparently lump ADD, autism, and Asperger's in the same family. I have a first cousin with autism (he's also mildly retarded), and his sister's daughter seems to have similar problems but hasn't been officially diagnosed.
bump.My husband has it. He's 27. Dr. diagnosed him when he was in high school. He was a premie. 6 weeks early. and his mom had something wrong when he was born. low blood count or something. Don't remember the specifics. But he has Cerebal or cerebral palsy. Not sure if there is an "r" in there. and he has parkinson's. And he has ADD. and all his adult relatives have high blood pressure but none are over weight. I guess that is genetic.
But with all that, you'd never know. Except he is pigeon towed and his right leg is shorter than the other. so he has a slight limp. His right side is weaker. His right arm always ends up bent when he is tired. Meaning I'll notice his right hand is clenched and bent to his lower chest. He never even realizes it. Unfortunatly, if he ever has a stroke, there is no possible hope for the right side to stay strong. it will become paralized no matter how bad it is.
None going back at least 2 generations. I'm glad - it's such a miserable disease and it traps wonderful thinking people in a trembling body.
There's reason to think it's a combination of a genetic weakness and environmental toxins that makes parkinson's. Michael J. Fox (who grew up very close to the town I was born in!) was on a TV show in Canada I used to watch. On the set was a very toxic chemical that made many of the people who worked on it get various neurological diseases. He got is later than the others - but he was very young on the set so it may have been delayed.