There are worst illnesses than PD | Parkinson’s Disease Blog

Well, as one newly diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, as the holidays wind down to the New Year 2013, I’d rather have gotten a lump of coal in my Christmas stocking than this news.

We all would.

      But if there’s a bright side to learning we have a disease that
can’t be cured but only managed and maintained with medications and physical therapy, consider these points I’ve been stressing to myself.

     There are worse illnesses. Our PD burden is basically pain free. There is no strict and unappealing diet to follow. We are not limitedin daily activities unless we allow the illness to undermine our mobility through fear and timidity.

Falls are indeed a hazard to be dealt with, but studies suggest 40 percent of PD patients limit their range of movement out of reluctance to confront the fear of falling.

      Here then, is a definite example of that old saying that whatever challenge or affliction doesn’t kill us can make us stronger.

      Exercise approved by your doctor or physical therapist and faithfully adhered to by you is essential to improving health, well- being and confidence, not to mention good spirits.

      We are not, for Pete’s sake, suggesting you do the macarena on “Dancing with the Stars.”

      Decades ago there were virtually no medications for treatment of Parkinson’s Disease’ known then as “The Shaking Palsy,” and its victims were not a pretty sight, doomed to shuffling, jerking and drooling, mumbling demented nonsense in their end stage illness.

     Several physicians were involved in research that gradually shed light on PD, but medicines alone are not enough to begin to cope with a progressive disease of neurological deterioration. Symptoms can be alleviated by chemistry, but there is no medication that can interrupt its inevitable progression.

      Whatever the answer may ultimately turn out to be, there is no doubt about the efficacy of physical exercise–of many types–in slowing the progression of PD and its disabling ravage of the human body.
     

      Considerable research trials involving both humans with PD and animal models are now being conducted. Scientists and physicians say they are hopeful a link will be discovered that can ultimately reverse motor symptom damage and repair the brain.

       Meanwhile, if a magic pill or potion were discovered to cure or prevent Parkinson’s Disease, can you imagine the clamor for it and the Nobel Prize nominations that would be forthcoming? But we humans are an impatient lot.

      The benefits of simple physical exercise as an adjunct to the search for the Holy Grail of a prescription medicine have been demonstrated beyond doubt. And yet many patients neglect a healthy, stimulating effort that others who are not sick pursue for fun.

       Perhaps it seems too much like work to some, or others are discouraged by some of the very PD symptoms that would benefit, such as depression and lethargy or lack of faith and hope.

     Considering the symptoms and effects of Parkinson’s Disease it is tough to get enthusiastic. One is moody, and joints and limbs are stiff and inflexible. Muscles are stiff and weak and your energy level is low. Posture is poor and constipation is a problem. Balance
is poor. Cardiac and respiratory function sluggish; bone density is poor, especially in women.

      You feel pretty rotten? Next, let’s see what we can do to per you up, your PD curse notwithstanding.