christine-pratt
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To minimize Dyskinesia I use Amandatine. It works well for me.
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I do the same thing!! And I also found that putting something the floor helps me raise my feet to step over and if I do this for a few steps it helps me get back to a normal gait.
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I find that if I can change position and move my upper torso I can get out of the freeze. Sometimes I throw something on the ground so I have something to step over. I have used a wadded-up paper towel or a shoe. A funny story – once I froze in a store after buying a package of M&Ms. I threw the M&Ms to the floor to step over but before I got going someone picked the M&Ms up thinking I had dropped them. They were surprised when I threw them down on the floor again but we had a good laugh. At other times I will twist from left to right at the waist to loosen up my hips. Another trick is to breath in and breath out hard as I take a step forward. I make the decision of what to use based on where I am and what comes to mind. What I find hard to deal with are people who run up and want to help – does anyone have any good responses to this situation? Having someone I do not know trying to “help” me makes me very uncomfortable.
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Before I was diagnosed with PD a friend pulled me aside and told me he thought my job was “killing” me. I had sharp pain in my left shoulder for almost two years and this caused my left arm to not swing when I walked. I believe the “frozen shoulder” was the result of extensive high stress in both my personal life and with my job. Being a Type A person I work hard, was in an office tied to a laptop often 10- 12 hours a day, had a very full personal schedule, slept little, ate junk food, took meds for cholesterol which caused my blook sugar to run high. Constipation was a constant problem. Basically I pushed myself hard. I tried acupuncture to reduce stress and my shoulder pain but it only worked for a short-time so I was sent to physical therapy. The physical therapist is who told me to see a neurologist. This is when I was told I had PD but I never had any test other than when I was given levodopa the symptoms improved. I think the cortisol which results from stress burned out my brain and reduced my dopamine production. I am not sure if levodopa helps or causes some symptoms. I have been treated for PD for over 7 years but in the last couple months my doctor added Amantadine which has helped a lot. This a type of flu med which is supposed to minimize inflammation. Not sure where this will go. My version of Parkinson’s is all about gait/mobility issues. My focus is on limiting anything that creates cortisol and increasing anything that increases dopamine. Does this sound familiar to anyone??