Welcome to my Blog
Hello, and welcome to my blog about beating Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's disease is characterized by tremors, joint stiffness, movement disorders and sometimes dementia. There are a host of other symptoms such as shuffling gait, and my favorite, drooling. There is no cure for Parkinson's. The medications are used only to mask the symptoms. They do not slow the progression in any way. This is why I am determined to find another way.
It was over a year ago that I started having symptoms. I thought that I had tendonitis in my left elbow. It was so stiff and sore. I work in childcare and thought I had done something to strain my arm, such as picking up a large toddler. This went on for several weeks so I went to see my doctor.
She diagnosed it as tendonitis right away. I asked her if it was possible that it was the start of Parkinson's. My father had had it. I was only 55, but that was almost the age my father was when he was diagnosed. She passed it off as improbable. So I went home and treated it as tendonitis, with non-steroid anti-inflammatories and a compression band. It helped somewhat.
A few months later I noticed that my left leg was shaking a bit. I exercise a lot and thought maybe I had irritated a nerve. I noticed that it would stop shaking as soon as I thought about it. That's weird. I knew this was symptom of Parkinson's. I also noticed that when I drove, I would forget to blink. It should be automatic. Am I blinking and not realizing it. How does one even know? Was I just being paranoid about getting Parkinson's?
I put that out of my mind until I got the third symptom. My left hand was acting weird. Kind of fluttering at times. It was moving much slower than my right hand. Characterized by not completing movements. It became very obvious that there was some neurological problem going on. I thought of Parkinson's or a brain tumor, or perhaps even a mini stroke.
I went to see a neurologist. He ran me through the standard testing. He watching me walk. He also Tested my reflexes and mental abilities... The diagnoses was Parkinson's. This hardly came as a surprise to me.
He put me on Leva dopa. He said this would verify the diagnosis if it relieved the symptoms. I would have a few months and then see a neurologist that specializes in movement disorders.
I started taking the Leva dopa. It was horrible. I felt so loopy. I totally could not function. I wouldn't trust myself to drive or work with children. I also felt extremely nauseous. After several months of this I decided to not take the medication. I knew that it only masked symptoms and did nothing to stop or reverse progression. Please note: I would not recommend for anyone to go off their medication. This was my personal decision.
I immediately started to feel better. I decided to start taking supplements instead. I bought a nice variation of supplements that were supposed to be good for Parkinson's. I also made sure to exercise. I did something every day: walking, running, weight lifting, yoga... And these exercises really made a difference. So much so that I noticed a decrease in shaking in my leg. This is the way I need to go.
In my next entry I will show supplements I take. I bought them at Whole Foods, but they can be found in any health food store. I do not sell these supplements.
It was over a year ago that I started having symptoms. I thought that I had tendonitis in my left elbow. It was so stiff and sore. I work in childcare and thought I had done something to strain my arm, such as picking up a large toddler. This went on for several weeks so I went to see my doctor.
She diagnosed it as tendonitis right away. I asked her if it was possible that it was the start of Parkinson's. My father had had it. I was only 55, but that was almost the age my father was when he was diagnosed. She passed it off as improbable. So I went home and treated it as tendonitis, with non-steroid anti-inflammatories and a compression band. It helped somewhat.
A few months later I noticed that my left leg was shaking a bit. I exercise a lot and thought maybe I had irritated a nerve. I noticed that it would stop shaking as soon as I thought about it. That's weird. I knew this was symptom of Parkinson's. I also noticed that when I drove, I would forget to blink. It should be automatic. Am I blinking and not realizing it. How does one even know? Was I just being paranoid about getting Parkinson's?
I put that out of my mind until I got the third symptom. My left hand was acting weird. Kind of fluttering at times. It was moving much slower than my right hand. Characterized by not completing movements. It became very obvious that there was some neurological problem going on. I thought of Parkinson's or a brain tumor, or perhaps even a mini stroke.
I went to see a neurologist. He ran me through the standard testing. He watching me walk. He also Tested my reflexes and mental abilities... The diagnoses was Parkinson's. This hardly came as a surprise to me.
He put me on Leva dopa. He said this would verify the diagnosis if it relieved the symptoms. I would have a few months and then see a neurologist that specializes in movement disorders.
I started taking the Leva dopa. It was horrible. I felt so loopy. I totally could not function. I wouldn't trust myself to drive or work with children. I also felt extremely nauseous. After several months of this I decided to not take the medication. I knew that it only masked symptoms and did nothing to stop or reverse progression. Please note: I would not recommend for anyone to go off their medication. This was my personal decision.
I immediately started to feel better. I decided to start taking supplements instead. I bought a nice variation of supplements that were supposed to be good for Parkinson's. I also made sure to exercise. I did something every day: walking, running, weight lifting, yoga... And these exercises really made a difference. So much so that I noticed a decrease in shaking in my leg. This is the way I need to go.
In my next entry I will show supplements I take. I bought them at Whole Foods, but they can be found in any health food store. I do not sell these supplements.
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