Alda battling Parkinson’s
Alan Alda has been living with Parkinson’s disease for over three years, the actor revealed Tuesday in an appearance on CBS’ “This Morning.”
“The reason I want to talk about it in public is that I was diagnosed 3½ years ago, and I’ve had a full life since,” he said.
“I thought it’s probably only a matter of time before somebody does a story about this from a sad point of view,” he added, pointing out that one of his thumbs had been twitching in recent TV appearances. “But that’s not where I am.”
Parkinson’s is a movement disorder with symptoms that include muscle tremors and stiffness, poor balance and coordination. It affects more than a million Americans, according to the American Parkinson Disease Association, including actor Michael J. Fox and the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, the longtime civil rights leader.
Alda, star of the TV series “M*A*S*H,” said he went to the doctors after reading that acting out one’s dreams could be an early warning sign of the disorder.
“By acting out your dreams, I mean I was having a dream that somebody was attacking me and I threw a sack of potatoes at them,” Alda, 82, said in the interview. “But what I was really doing is throwing a pillow at my wife.”
Alda said he was also speaking out to reassure people that they do not have to be fearful after a diagnosis. “You still have things you can do,” he said. Alda goes boxing three times a week, plays tennis and marches to John Philip Sousa music. “Marching to march music is good for Parkinson’s,” he explained.