Columns

One thing I’ve been pondering lately is how vulnerable we can be when we have a medical crisis and have to go to a hospital emergency room. Imagine the following scenario: You’re a patient with young-onset Parkinson’s disease (YOPD), a subtype of early-onset Parkinson’s. In the ER, you ask…

Years ago, my dad realized that acute stress made his Parkinson’s symptoms worse. He was more inclined to freeze or experience exacerbated tremors, especially if he was full of anxiety. This revelation led him to focus on reducing the amount of stress he experiences on a regular…

“As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” — humorist and poet Sam Levenson, though often quoted by (and misattributed to) Audrey Hepburn, actress and UNICEF goodwill ambassador I began volunteering in my children’s classrooms…

Having been born and raised in Cleveland, I’m accustomed to living in a city with top-notch healthcare. This didn’t mean much to me as a child and as a young adult, because I was extremely fortunate that none of my close family members or I had any major medical issues…

Snow is falling from the sky in tufts here in the Colorado mountains as I write this. Christmas is on my brain. It’s the time of year when my sister and I book flights back to Michigan and brainstorm ways to make the season memorable. For me, doing that means…

Early-onset Parkinson’s disease entered my life almost 15 years ago. My husband, Arman, who was in his late 30s at the time, had been showing some strange warning signs that his body was fighting something — we just didn’t know what it was. He began experiencing impaired…

In 1991, my husband, John, and I got married, quit our jobs, and cycled around the world for a year. John was an engineer and I was a chef, and we had friends who’d traveled to Australia and Asia the previous year. “Why not?” we thought. It was a fantastic…

Hello, November! With the Thanksgiving holiday nearly upon us, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I’m most thankful for. As the leaves change colors and the air gets cooler, it feels like the perfect time to reflect on the past year and all of the reasons I have to…

My husband, Arman, has been dealing with a number of symptoms in his head, neck, and back due to his battle with Parkinson’s disease. These have included a stooped posture, a bent spine (called camptocormia), a drooped head, and a bend in his trunk (called…

“How could I be so stupid?” I was berating myself for buying a ridiculous book that promised to cure Parkinson’s disease. The book was one of the first purchases I made in a long line of failed attempts to feel better and take control of my life after I…