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About this Series
The Surprising Facts videos are short, focused education clips designed to make Parkinson;s information easier to understand and less overwhelming. Each video highlights one topic at a time, so you can watch in any order, rewatch as needed, and stop whenever you've learned enough for now. These videos are meant to support understanding and better conversations with your healthcare team-not to replace medical care.

Surprising Parkinson's Facts
Short videos and printable guides explaining symptoms and daily challenges that patients and caregivers are often not told about early.


Symptoms People Often Misunderstand About Parkinson's (Weeks 1-9)


🧠 Wk 1—Early Non-Obvious Symptoms


🧠 Wk 2—Tremor vs Non-Tremor Symptoms


🧠 Wk 3—Dystonia vs Dyskinesia


🧠 Wk 4—Freezing vs Hesitation


🧠 Wk 5—Rigidity, Pain & Internal Tremor


🧠 Wk 6—Medication, Treatment & Myths


🧠 Wk 7—Fatigue, Energy Loss & Exhaustion




Daily Living & Safety
(Weeks 10-18)


🧠 Wk 10—Freezing of Gait in Daily Life


🧠 Wk 11—Fall Risk & Balance Issues


🧠 Wk 12—Home Safety & Adaptations


🧠 Wk 13—Bathroom & Night Safety


🧠 Wk 14—Public Mobility Challenges


🧠 Wk 15—Driving Considerations



🧠 Wk 17—Energy Conservation Strategies


🧠 Wk 18—Nervous System dysfunction


Medication & Autonomic Systems
(Weeks 19-27)



🧠 Wk 20 — Dyskinesia Realities


🧠 Wk 21 — Digestive system Involvement


🧠 Wk 22 — Constipation & Absorption


🧠 Wk 23 — Swallowing Challenges


🧠 Wk 24 — Weight Loss Without Dieting


🧠 Wk 25 — Hydration Challenges


🧠 Wk 26 — Blood Pressure Unpredictability


🧠 Wk 27 — Why Symptoms Fluctuate


Emotional & Cognitive Changes
(Weeks 28-36)


🧠 Wk 28 — Anxiety Doesn't Always Have & Trigger



🧠 Wk 30 — Impulse Control Changes


🧠 Wk 31 —Anxiety Spikes 7/12/26


🧠 Wk 32 —Depression vs Apathy-Available 7/19/26


🧠 Wk 33 —Emotional Flattening-Available 7/26/26


🧠 Wk 34 —Decision Fatigue-Available 8/2/26


🧠 Wk 35 —Sleep Disruption-Available 8/23/26


🧠 Wk 36—Hallucinations vs Dreams


Advanced Long Term & System Wide Effects
(Weeks 37-45)


🧠 Wk 37 — Vision and sensory processing changes


🧠 Wk 38— Speech, voice an communication fatigue


🧠 Wk 39— Why stress, illness, & surgery worsen symptoms


🧠 Wk 40—Long term medication tradeoffs & adjustments


🧠 Wk 41—System-Wide Effects (Coming Soon)


🧠 Wk 43—Brain-Body Communication Breakdown (Coming Soon)


🧠 Wk 44—Cumulative Fatigue (Coming Soon)


Advocacy, Identity, & Living Forward
(Weeks 46-52)


🧠 Bonus 10-Are Parkinson's related deaths under reported.


🧠 Bonus 11-Mood Changes YOPD vs Older Age at time of diagnosis.

© 2026 TooShaky
Disclaimer: This patient education resource was created by Dawn Howard, Parkinson’s Advocate & Neurological Health Educator, through TooShaky.org, to support individuals newly diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Content is informed by lived experience, patient education best practices, and information from established medical, nonprofit, and educational sources. Drafting, editing, and organizational support were assisted by ChatGPT (OpenAI) as a writing and language tool, under the direction and review of the author. Educational content and references are drawn from sources including, but not limited to: Parkinson’s Foundation, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, American Parkinson Disease Association (APDA), Davis Phinney Foundation, Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, PubMed, PMC PubMed Central, Peer-reviewed medical literature and clinical education resources. This material is provided for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended to replace individualized medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Patients should discuss all medical questions and care decisions with their healthcare provider. TooShaky.org does not provide medical care and does not establish a clinician–patient relationship.