"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.
"A myth is a lie that conveys a truth." C.S. Lewis "Myths are made for the imagination to breath life into them." Albert Camus Introduction: Parkinson's is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder. Thus, Parkinson's occurs relatively frequently in adults. Unfortunately, it can be a complex disorder for physicians to make a proper diagnosis, and it …
Continue reading "Fifteen Myths and Common Misconceptions About Parkinson’s"
"If you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything." Muhammad Ali "A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world." Leo Buscaglia Importance of Friends: Although one cannot deny the disorder's existence, we do not live totally through the lens of Parkinson's. Although we rely on our intuition …
Continue reading "Thought for Thursday: With A Little Help From My Friends"
"Courage is very important. Like a muscle, it is strengthened by use." Ruth Gordon "Commitment is a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets." Chalene Johnson Introduction: Along the way to receiving the diagnosis of Parkinson's, you may have to undergo several different kinds of tests/procedures to help your physician(s) learn what …
Continue reading "Part 4: Journey to Parkinson’s and Electromyography (EMG)"
"Beginners are many; finishers are few." Stephen Covey "Nothing comes from doing nothing." William Shakespeare Introduction: By now, you know exercise is medicine for many disorders, including Parkinson's. But how is our health improved for those with Parkinson's, and what does that mean? The studies described here are either review articles that summarize the evidence …
"Just remember, once you're over the hill you begin to pick up speed." Arthur Schopenhauer "Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter." Mark Twain Introduction: For 26 years, I taught undergraduate Biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill entitled "Biology of Blood Diseases." We …
Continue reading "The Significance of a Birthday: Journey with Parkinson’s"
"Our destiny is not determined by the number of times we stumble but by the number of times we rise up, dust ourselves off, and move forward." Dieter F. Uchtdorf "My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling bad or having trouble off the field, the only thing …
"Memory only becomes interesting through its struggle with forgetfulness." Adrian Forty "As you get older three things happen. The first is your memory goes, and I can't remember the other two." Norman Wisdom Précis: A short story about being forgetful. Taking our daily requirement of essential drugs is vital to our everyday function with Parkinson's. …
Continue reading "A Forgetful Friday: Journey With Parkinson’s"
"Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong." Richard Armour "No one party can fool all of the people all of the time; that's why we have two parties" Bob Hope The National Plan to End Parkinson's Act (H.R.8585) in the …
"Resilience is not what happens to you. It’s how you react to, respond to, and recover from what happens to you." Jeffrey Gitomer “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” Friedrich Nietzsche "The greater the force of your compassion, the greater your resilience in confronting hardships." Dalai Lama Defining …
"You must submit to supreme suffering in order to discover the completion of joy." John Calvin "Long is the road from conception to completion." Moliere Précis: This post is about completing a task. SImple for many of you likely, but not always for me. As part of moving away from Chapel Hill, NC, I had …
Journey with Parkinson's 