I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

About planes, yes, flying can contribute to blood clots. After chemo, I wear support hose when I fly to help prevent clotting. I also get up and do stretching exercises in the aisle.

I was reading that Hillary had the flu shortly before her fall so it may be that the flu resulted in increased inactivity which could also lead to a clot - hard to tell.  Lots of people get clots as they age too so I doubt we'll ever know for sure what caused the clot.

Hillary was so pretty when Bill was first elected. But she is not aging well. I think she's working herself to death and really needs to take a break. I agree that Bill doesn't look very well either, but I believe he is healthy. He's just overdone the weight loss thing.

I wouldn't put much stock in the veracity of a National Enquirer article. That being said, I wish Hilary well and pray for her full recovery from whatever is troubling her. 

Athena-I think your pictures show some weight gain, but most of all what I have noticed is her hairstyles(or lack thereof). It's too bad but we do have a double standard about how our politicians should look. I don't know why she's going for the long, limp gray hair look these days. 

Plus, I wouldn't want anyone to compare pictures of me from now and 5 years ago.

Mary

Mary -What most concerns me is her pallor and how she has aged. She is also not one of those women who looks good with the hair taken back like that, as her face shape is not that pretty. I think her previous style really enhanced her good features - including her hair. I think she went for the "elderly stateswoman" look.

As for the men - we all know what happens and they can never hide it. They enter office with dark hair and leave it with white. Obama is headed that way BUT he doesn't look frail or unhealthy as the Clintons do.

The National Enquirer is a rag that lies and should not even be mentioned in decent company - lol! I think I would believe Fixed Noise first.

Yes, they certainly do, but they have been killing the Clintons for decades now. Oprah too. Their favorite dx is always brain cancer, too.

Lewing - fabulous picture, love, love, love the description of the location and the food - how wonderful.

 It is 39 years ago today (actually almost to the minute) that I was married to my beloved Joe - at City Hall in Calgary - I wore a dress from Mexico that had pointsettias embroidered along the Nehru collar - it was cream coloured with red and green and yellow embroidery - it was actually just a long nightshirt and I loved it - our reception was at a friend's house and catered by me, the friend and my sister (who flew in from Montreal as a surprise) - I even made my own cake Maple Nut Chiffon with flowers in the center - we had only four people at the ceremony but 50 at the reception - it is a beautiful memory...

Here's to at least 39 happy years for you and Eric.

(((((Sandy)))))

No - stimulants are contraindicated for me and I don't have a need for them anyway. It was Lithuim and then Lexapro. I take both to this day (Lexapro only PRN). Some meds have that bizarre characteristic - a really strong SE will appear and then disappear after several months.

Beta blockers are sometimes used to combat tremors. Who knows if or what Clinton is on. If he takes a beta blocker, then the tremor would likely be due to another cause.

Blue, now I am curious - has anyone in your PD community looked into whether Clinton is on any prescription meds - perhaps for his heart or something else, and whether that could explain a tremor?

Did he have any risk factors for PD that you know of?

I see. Bipolar, on the other hand, is one of the most heritable of illnesses. That is, most children of a bipolar parent will not get it, but there are almost no known cases of someone who is bipolar NOT having a parent (My father, in my case.) or grandparent with the disorder or with depression. Bipolar is more heritable than schizophrenia. There is no one gene associated with it, though.

(The only other case in which a person can be classified for clinical reasons as bipolar is if the initial diagnosis is depression, the person is given anti-depressants and subsequently suffers from symptoms of mania. That is bipolar due to medication.)

My brother had early onset Parkinson's.(35 at diagnosis) He died at 43 of pneumonia.  My mom is 85. I have decided that if I'm diagnosed before she dies, I will not tell her. I don't think I have it, but even so, my breast cancer diagnosis was hard enough on her. 

Blue-you are so lucky that you could have the DBS. My brother's dementia was so far progressed(from the meds? from the Parkinson's? Who knows?) that he was not a candidate. I know it's not all a piece of cake for you, though. 

Mary