A blog for Parkinson's education, research advances, new treatment strategies, and personal reflection: the goal is to provide support and information/resources to anyone either with Parkinson’s disease or with any neurodegenerative disorder.
"Don't give up. Don't ever give up." Jim Valvano “Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.” Brené Brown Parkinson's disease Awareness Month: Parkinson's awareness month is exactly that. You simply start by making people around you familiar with this disorder. And you can help others learn more about this neurodegenerative disease. Description... Continue Reading →
"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." John Wooden "To enjoy the glow of good health, you must exercise." Gene Tunney Précis: For Parkinson's Awareness Month, let's begin with an important reminder/statement that "Exercise is medicine for Parkinson's disease." Coming soon in a future blog post I will review... Continue Reading →
"There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something tomorrow." Orison Swett Marden "Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible." Helen Keller Introduction: Many of us take levodopa/carbidopa for substantial symptomatic relief; however, this dopamine replacement treatment only relieves symptoms without... Continue Reading →
"Life is difficult. This is the great truth, one of the greatest truths-it is a great truth because once we see this truth, we transcend it." M. Scott Peck "Life is hard. Life is beautiful. Life is difficult. Life is wonderful." Kate DiCamillo Introduction: A student and loyal reader of this blog recently asked “What... Continue Reading →
"I choose to make the rest of my life the best of my life." Louise Hay "Avoiding problems you need to face is avoiding the life you need to live." Paulo Coelho Try to live following the advice of the opening quotes: Today renews your lease on the rest of your life, enjoy it (get... Continue Reading →
"Some remedies are worse than the disease." Publilius Syrus "Each patient carries his own doctor inside him." Norman Cousins Summary: Dopamine agonists are widely used in the treatment of Parkinson's, especially as a first-line therapy. Some patients on a dopamine agonist experience side-effects that require either tapering or discontinuation of the drug. First described in... Continue Reading →
“Kites rise highest against the wind – not with it!” Winston Churchill "Energy and persistence conquer all things." Benjamin Franklin Introduction: On January 1, LinkedIn announced that I had a work anniversary of 32 years at The University North Carolina at Chapel Hill ( if you include my postdoc at UNC-CH, this is a grand... Continue Reading →
With Parkinson’s, exercise is better than taking a bottle of pills. If you don’t do anything you’ll just stagnate.” Brian Lambert “With Parkinson’s you have two choices: You can let it control you, or you can control it. And I’ve chosen to control it.” US Senator Isakson Introduction: Having one of the numerous neurodegenerative disorders... Continue Reading →
"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... Continue Reading →
