7 Tips and Healthy Habits for Working with Parkinson’s

"Nothing will work unless you do." Maya Angelou "The best preparation for good work tomorrow is to do good work today." Elbert Hubbard Précis: Over the past eight weeks, some loyal readers and several friends have asked me: "Is everything  okay?"; "Has my health taken a downturn?"; "Have you stopped writing your blog?"; "I have …

B Vitamins (Folate, B6, B12) Reduce Homocysteine Levels Produced by Carbidopa/Levodopa Therapy

"The excitement of vitamins, nutrition and metabolism permeated the environment." Paul D. Boyer "A substance that makes you ill if you don't eat it." Albert Szent-Gyorgy Introduction: Claire McLean, an amazing-PT who is vital to my life managing my Parkinson's, posted a very interesting article about the generation of homocysteine from the metabolism of levodopa …

10 “P-Words” That Will Help Your Career Even in the Presence of Parkinson’s

"Enjoy the journey, enjoy every moment, and quit worrying about Winning and losing." Matt Biondi "Enjoy the journey as much as the destination."  Marshall Sylver Introduction:  It has been a month since my last blog post.  Trips to Arizona, California, Alabama, and Florida consumed much of the month.  I spent time with relatives, dear old …

Driving Under the Influence of Parkinson’s

"Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?" George Carlin "If all the cars in the United States were placed end to end, it would probably be Labor Day Weekend." Doug Larson The Dilemma: At some age in our life, maybe, …

Building Empathy for Parkinson’s

“When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.”  Ernest Hemingway “To perceive is to suffer.”  Aristotle Introduction: The loss of dopamine-producing neurons in the mid-brain leads to Parkinson's disease, which usually presents with motor dysfunction of different degrees of progression from person-to-person.  This post explores the differences between empathy and sympathy, and describes a …

Parkinson’s Awareness Month: Veterans Health Administration PD Video Series

"My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging." Hank Aaron "Nothing worth having comes easy." Theodore Roosevelt Introduction: Several years ago, the Veterans Health Administration produced videos to educate/inform our veterans about Parkinson's …

9 Things to Know About Exercise-induced Neuroplasticity in Human Parkinson’s

"A willing mind makes a hard journey easy." Philip Massinger "Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being." Plato Introduction: Much of my life has been spent exercising. Most of this exercise has been done with sheer delight.  Since receiving my Parkinson's diagnosis, my opinion of exercise has changed.  With Parkinson's, I'm now …

Part 2: Journey to Parkinson’s and Magnetic Resonance Imaging

"The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time." Abraham Lincoln "To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." Ralph Waldo Emerson Along the way to the diagnosis of Parkinson’s, you may have to undergo several different kinds …

7 Healthy Habits For Your Brain

   "Your brain - every brain - is a work in progress. It is 'plastic.' From the day we're born to the day we die, it continuously revises and remodels, improving or slowly declining, as a function of how we use it." Michael Merzenich "The root of all health is in the brain. The trunk …

Help with the Parkinson’s Tremor

"The starting point of all achievement is desire." Napoleon Hill "We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone." Ronald Reagan The Journey With Parkinson's returns:  The past 2 months have just consumed every waking moment of my time/life, and then some.  I have a back-log of >20 blog posts in some finished-form-or-another. Starting this …