Columns

Traveling can be so stressful that it often feels like we need a vacation after the vacation. For my husband, Arman, who has early-onset Parkinson’s disease, and me, all of the relaxation we enjoy during much-needed trips melts away as soon as we return to the airport. A…

Self-care sometimes gets a reputation for being a woo-woo practice — something that’s unconventional and has little scientific data to back it up. But the body of scientific evidence showing that self-care practices can have an impact is growing. A self-care routine has been shown to…

Whenever anyone asks my husband, Arman, how he is doing, his standard reply has become, “Living the dream.” He usually gets a good laugh from this response, and they quickly move on to other topics. This has become his tagline, which seems to work well for him. Living with a…

Have you ever had to run for your life? I have — a couple of times. I attend a spin class every Thursday morning at our local Y. Although the class isn’t explicitly designed for people with Parkinson’s disease, I find it remarkable how good I feel…

In my last column, I discussed the importance of pursuing a collaborative effort with healthcare providers to develop a holistic and personalized approach to managing Parkinson’s symptoms. Today, I’ll delve into the ongoing trials and errors I’ve encountered in identifying the most effective combination of therapies to…

I love doing one kind act for a stranger each day. I have done this for as long as I can remember. It was quite a challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic, though, since I didn’t often encounter strangers in my living room. These small acts of kindness usually take…

The 25-watt red bulb in the bedside table lamp gives the room an eerie glow. I chuckle as I remember my husband, Eric, and I giggling when we bought that novelty cherry bulb 15 years ago. At times, we joked it was our “love lamp.” Now, we visit the red-light…

I never thought I’d be interested in a support group for Parkinson’s caregivers. When my husband, Arman, was diagnosed, we were both in our late 30s, and I certainly didn’t think I could relate to anyone caring for someone in my parent’s generation. I was also so busy…

I’ve been thinking about food a lot lately. This makes sense because I worked as a chef, a farmers market manager, a food columnist, and a community food adviser for most of my adult life. Food was my job, my entertainment, and my passion. Then my Parkinson’s came along…

Living with Parkinson’s disease is an intricate dance of challenges. For me, pain has been a persistent partner on this journey. For years, my coping strategy was to try to push the pain out of my mind, summoning internal strength to accept it as an enigmatic facet of…