2018 Parkinson’s Awareness Month and 65 Quotes to Support Your Life With Parkinson’s

"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 …

Living and Working with “HOPE” in the Presence of Parkinson’s

"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 …

A Good Life With Parkinson’s

"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, renew your lease for the rest of your life, and enjoy it …

Dopamine Agonist Withdrawal Syndrome (DAWS) in Parkinson’s

"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 …

Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) and Over-the-Counter Therapies in Parkinson’s

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 …

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 …

Effect of Forgiveness on Health

"When you forgive, you in no way change the past - but you sure do change the future."  Bernard Meltzer "The first step in forgiveness is the willingness to forgive." Marianne Williamson Précis: Recently had a friend go through a difficult break-up from a marriage. The notion of getting past the failed relationship, achieving forgiveness, …

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 …

Life-Journey with Parkinson’s Blog (2016-2017): Recap of Quotes, Service, and Research

“Give your life a destination.” Debasish Mridha "We're all a beautiful, wonderful work in progress....Embrace the process!” Nanette Mathews Précis: This post is a review of my public journey and life-steps with Parkinson's in the 2nd year of the blog: i) rationale for the blog; ii) quotes/highlights from selected posts between March 2016-March 2017; iii) …