I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s at the age of 44 – these are the warning signs you need to know

A mother who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s at the age of 44 has shared her surprising symptoms of the disease.

Donna Marshall, from Tunbridge Wells in Kent, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at a young age and began showing unusual symptoms in her mid-twenties.

The mother-of-one, who is now 54, claimed that one of the first symptoms she experienced was a loss of taste and smell – a lesser-known warning sign of the disease.

She also claimed to have become a compulsive shopper, a change in behavior observed in some patients. The businesswoman said the illness even prompted her to spend thousands on an extravagant Halloween display.

Parkinson’s disease, which usually occurs in people over 50, is better known for causing problems such as tremors, slow movements and stiffness.

Ms Marshall (pictured with her daughter Beau), who was diagnosed just a decade ago, said her symptoms even led her to spend thousands on an extravagant Halloween display

Loss of smell and taste were the first symptoms that Ms. Marshall almost two decades before the diagnosis was noticed.

She said: “Smell went first, I was about 26.

“I didn’t care, and it gives you tastelessness in food.”

A reduction in smell, known medically as anosmia, is experienced by up to 95 percent of people with the condition and is often the first sign of the disease.

Trembling, another distinct symptom, did not appear until Mrs. Marshall did not go for a walk on New Year’s Eve 16 years later.

She said: “I went for a walk on the beach on the Isle of White.

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“I looked at my hand and it was shaking, I wondered why that was. Now I know for sure it was Parkinson’s disease.”

Around 18,000 Britons and 90,000 Americans are diagnosed each year, and charities estimate that one in 37 people alive today will be diagnosed at some point in their lives.

The disease is caused by a loss of nerve cells in a part of the brain called the substantia nigra, which causes a drop in dopamine in the brain.

This messenger hormone plays an important role in regulating movement in the body, which is why the drop can cause characteristic tremor symptoms.

Individuals with early-onset Parkinson’s disease tend to experience slower disease progression over time and have fewer cognitive symptoms such as dementia.

However, they may experience more physical discomfort and side effects from medication.

One of the lesser known effects of Parkinson’s is compulsive behavior such as gambling, binge eating and excessive shopping, which can be a side effect of the medication used to fight the disease.

Ms Marshall said she has met a number of people who also struggle with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) since she was diagnosed.

She said: “They have the gambling addiction, the shopping addiction and the sex addiction, and it’s not a lot of fun.”

The obsessive-compulsive disorder to which mrs. Marshall ly came out in full force last Halloween when she decided to turn her backyard into a haunted attraction.

Loss of smell and taste were the first symptoms that Ms. Marshall almost two decades before the diagnosis was noticed

Trembling, another telling symptom, only emerged when mrs. Marshall (pictured with her partner Keith Madgett) went for a walk on New Year’s Eve 16 years later

Ms Marshall (pictured with her daughter Beau) claims that an intolerance to stimulants such as caffeine, beer and sugar is one of the many symptoms of the disease

Ms Marshall (pictured with partner Keith) said her best advice for other people diagnosed with Parkinson’s at a young age was to try and find others who have the disease to talk to

Ms Marshall said: “Normally people would just put a pumpkin outside. I went all out.

“I’ve spent thousands of pounds on professional dancers, I’ve turned the front garden into a huge, huge graveyard.

“It was fantastic, all the kids loved it, but I didn’t have to go that far and that’s about it [OCD] Unfortunately yes.’

But Ms Marshall says dystonia – recurrent spasms, spasms or spasms that can be painful and last for hours – is the symptom that drastically affects her life.

Ms Marshall said: “The worst thing about Parkinson’s for me is the dystonia because my feet spasm and then my back spasms.

“I can’t walk at all, I can’t even put one foot in front of the other. The hardest thing for me is not being able to live a normal life.

“So everyday things that you would normally do are difficult for someone with Parkinson’s.

“Just walk up the stairs, make yourself a cup of tea, eat yourself, all that stuff.”

Mrs Marshall tries to keep her own daughter Beau, aged nine, from seeing the debilitating side of the disease.

She said: “I wake up early and take my pills on the couch while watching TV until I’m ready to go on as usual.”

Her mother Margaret also suffered from Parkinson’s disease.

Margaret died at the age of 80 after spending the last six years of her life in a vegetative state.

Ms Marshall said: “They fed her through a stomach tube, which in hindsight is the worst thing that could have happened to her.

“She only survived through medical intervention and then the decision to take that tube away fell on us as a family, which is about the worst thing anyone could do.”

Ms Marshall underwent deep brain stimulation surgery last week, which involved inserting a device into her brain that targets specific areas.

The hope is that the device will ease the pain of some of her symptoms, including dystonia.

Her best advice for other people diagnosed with Parkinson’s at a young age is to try and find others who have the disease to talk to.

She said: “There’s a lot of people on Facebook, there’s a lot of advice,

“I think the best thing I did was connect with people like me who have Parkinson’s at a young age because it’s a different animal than when you’re older, it manifests in a different way.”