Woman noticed odd symptom writing Christmas cards before Parkinson's diagnosis

Ann-Marie O' Connor, an author and fashion editor, was on Ireland AM to talk about her early onset Parkinson's diagnosis.

Ann-Marie started to get symptoms of Parkinson's during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

She said that it first started with a dull ache in her shoulder after a photo shoot. She said she brushed it off but two weeks later she said: "the pain was so bad I couldn't lie on my right hand side or lift my arm over my head."

Ann-Marie said she was incredibly stiff and rigid and developed a twitch in her right hand side during this time.

She called her GP and five months later when she got to see her GP she had three MRI's done which all came back negative.

After this, her right leg began dragging when walking and she would get muscle spasms and stiffness in her body.

"I almost felt like I was going in slow motion," she said.

READ NEXT: WATCH- Colin Farrell drops the f-bomb on live tv in USA after eating Irish snack

One of the big red flags for her was her handwriting, specifically during the Christmas period.

She said that her handwriting got so small it was looked like she was writing ransom notes.

"Then more worryingly my hand began to cup inwards...I couldn't brush my teeth...I couldn't apply make-up...I couldn't open up a bag of coffee without it spilling all over the place," she said.

It wasn't until she went to University college hospital in Cork where she was told she had early onset Parkinson's and she was shocked.

She said she was also going through peri-menopause at the time and she said there are many symptoms of peri menopause that are also similar to what she was going through so her diagnosis came as a complete shock.

You can listen to the full Ireland AM interview here.