"Where Life Meets Parkinson's." A blog for Parkinson's education, research advances, treatment strategies, and personal reflection. The goal is to provide support and resources to anyone either with Parkinson's disease or with any neurodegenerative disorder.
“Parkinson’s can be the wake-up call to transform yourself into a better person.” John Baumann “No matter what science can do for people living with Parkinson’s, we must prepare our brain and body to face all difficulties.” Nikolas Koukoulakis Introduction: All of the quotes used in this blog post are by people with Parkinson's. On …
Continue reading "A Brief Description of Parkinson’s Disease"
"Winning comes down to who can execute under pressure." Billie Jean King "No pressure, no diamonds." Thomas Carlyle Scenario #1: You're lying on the floor for a stretch in a physical therapy session. You rise to your feet, and the world starts spinning suddenly. You feel dizzy and disoriented, and the room takes a few minutes …
Continue reading "Science Sunday: Baroreflex Dysfunction and Orthostatic Hypotension in Parkinson’s"
"Nature creates unity even in the parts of a whole." Eugene Delacroix "The whole is more than the sum of its parts." Aristotle Hypothesis: A paper published by Chase et al. [Chase, Thomas N., Ahmad AL‐Sabbagh, Minako Koga, and Kathleen Clarence‐Smith. "Reduced Plasma Levodopa Fluctuations with More Frequent Administration of a Novel Carbidopa/Levodopa Functionally Scored …
"I would rather die a meaningful death than to live a meaningless life." Corazon Aquino "What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us." Helen Keller Sadness: The title was one word, "Sadness," and the note was brief. My friend, a fellow Person-with-Parkinson's (PwP), passed away …
"Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it." Lou Holtz "Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." John Wooden A New Paper Describing the Benefits of Exercise in Parkinson's: Corcos et al., (Corcos, D.M., G. Lamotte, N.S. Luthra, and …
Continue reading "The Importance of Exercise to Help Manage Parkinson’s"
"Measure your success by your inner scorecard versus an outer one." Robin Sharma "I never keep a scorecard or the batting averages. I hate statistics. What I got to know, I keep in my head." Dizzy Dean The Reason for a Parkinson's Disease Scorecard: We go see our Neurologist every six months, and one of their …
Continue reading "A Parkinson’s Disease Scorecard of Symptoms"
"Jazz washes away the dust of everyday life." Art Blakey "There are two kinds of music. Good music, and the other kind." Duke Ellington Intro to the Introduction: This blog primarily focuses on Parkinson's and (hopefully) gives helpful advice about various aspects of the disorder. Along this journey, I have shared a lot about myself, and …
Continue reading "Parkinson’s: Some Jazzy Blues Holiday Music"
"Nothing stinks like a pile of unpublished writing." Sylvia Plath "There are three difficulties in authorship; to write any thing worth the publishing — to find honest men to publish it — and to get sensible men to read it." Charles Caleb Colton Introduction: I spent over 40 years in an academic environment. The critical …
"When I hear somebody sigh, 'Life is hard,' I am always tempted to ask, 'Compared to what?'" Sydney J. Harris "Comparison is the death of joy." Mark Twain Overview: Recently, I have presented two blog posts on COMT (Catechol-O-methyl transferase) Inhibitors: "COMT Inhibitors in Parkinson's: Tell Me More, Tell Me More" (click here) and "Addendum …
"I usually take a two-hour nap from one to four." Yogi Berra "Persevere. Plan. Strategize. Focus. Breathe. Write. Let go: relax. Forgive. All this failing: take a nap." Mary Anne Radmacher Introduction: Many experts in the field of neurology believe that most if not all, neuropsychiatric disorders are linked to atypical sleep patterns. And guess …
Journey with Parkinson's 