Columns

In a recent column, I reflected on my use of solitude to help address the problems that accompany Parkinson’s disease. This chronic illness is frustrating because, like the automatic transmission on your car, many of the brain’s automatic functions just don’t work well. With Parkinson’s, the brakes are…

Growing up, I was often told, “A healthy mouth equals a happy brain.” I wish I would’ve taken this advice to heart sooner, because now I’m learning the hard way. At 32, I’m in the process of getting dentures. I was shocked when my dentist told me recently that I’d…

Welcome to year 10 of my life with Parkinson’s disease. The cure I’d expected hasn’t been found yet, so my journey continues. While there are times of contentment and sadness, there is also joy and laughter as I find humor in the irony of growing older as someone with…

I recently began attending a support group for Parkinson’s disease caregivers. Although I may have been one of the group’s youngest members, I’ve been a caregiver for longer than most, as my husband, Arman, was diagnosed with young-onset Parkinson’s in 2009. It was nice to…

Sanctuary and solitude help create the conditions for practicing insight meditation. This helps me to sense the Parkinson’s brain noise coming from my damaged midbrain, enabling me to better understand, and manage, some of my Parkinson’s symptoms. Parkinson’s is a progressive disease of the midbrain. My…

“When the bones are good, the rest don’t matter/ Yeah, the paint could peel, the glass could shatter/ Let it rain ’cause you and I remain the same.” — Maren Morris, “The Bones” I just love this song! Whenever it comes on the radio in my car, I…

Life in our hectic world is very noisy. To get the most benefit from the practice of insight meditation, we need our Parkinson’s life to be quiet. We must reduce the external noise so we can hear those subtle ripples in our brain’s undercurrent, the precursors to problems. Preventing…

“I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living, or get busy dying.” This famous quote is from one of the all-time greatest movies, “The Shawshank Redemption.” Andy (the main character, played by Tim Robbins) lives by this mantra to keep him going after…

With Parkinson’s, there’s a chronic malaise, a sense of “dis-ease” that never leaves. In this column, I’m using the hyphenated term “dis-ease” to separate its deeper meaning from the medical use of the word. Dis-ease is an ever-present part of the brain noise I face each day. There are…

The definition of “caregiver” is different for everyone, depending on where they are in their lives. My husband, Mike, and I never defined him as a caregiver because I wasn’t struggling physically, despite my Parkinson’s disease. Struggling emotionally is a different story, and he’s been my rock and…