The Freezing of Time as a Presenting Symptom of Parkinson's Disease

Abstract

Discusses the case of 68-yr-old female presenting symptoms of Parkinson's disease. The woman had tried wearing a watch on her left arm, only to have it stop working after a few days. Unaware of what was causing the watch to dysfunction, the woman assumed it was defective and took it back to the manufacturerer who assured her it was functioning perfectly. Three years later, a tremor at rest developed in her left arm. Examination revealed mild bradykinesia and rigidity of the arm, with a resting tremor characteristic of Parkinson's disease. She was treated with levodopa, and her symptoms improved. This woman's self-winding watch stopped working when she wore it on her left wrist because there was a lack of spontaneous activity in that arm; the decrease in arm movement was too slight to attract notice but enough to stop a sensitive watch. This "freezing of time" was the first symptom of her Parkinson's disease. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)