Lou Hevly

I’m with your impractical side, my wife’s with your practical.

Indeed! She’s royally peeved, but there’s nothing we can do but wait and see.

The only real symptom that affects me is Restless Legs Syndrome, and the Mirapex pretty much solves that.

I don’t think so. It’s slowed me down, which might be seen as positive, but that’s about it.

As far as my neurologist is concerned, he’s a good man, I believe he’s competent and he listens to me and pretty much lets me do what I think is best. I don’t really expect him to feel “empathy”; I see him twice a year, and I can only imagine the number of patients he sees, so I don’t think it’s realistic to expect his empathy.

This is a good point and one that should be talked about more. In my case, my wife is retiring in 3-5 years and the grand desire of her whole life and (here I exaggerate a bit) the only thing that keeps her going is thinking about all the traveling she’ll soon be doing. But, uh-oh! Now her husband has Parkinson’s. What’s he going to be like 3-5…[Read more]

I joined as a result of reading some of Jean’s articles on the Parkinson’s News Today Daily Digest. Also I’m here to learn and to help others in any way I can.

Interesting. So a cooperative doctor could prescribe Plendil for us tomorrow, then we could see if it worked. Since it has been approved as safe, we would just have to check the contraindications and drug interactions, and if these were negative, what would we have to lose?

Is there a cooperativedoctors.org out there?

Absolutely yoga!! My balance has improved well over what it was before I even got Parkinson’s. What I don’t know is what my balance now would have been had I never done yoga, but that’s always the case with anything we do or take. And AFAIK there’s certainly no downside to yoga.

I first tried Sinemet 25/100 3 x day because I was hoping it would let me play the guitar again, and it sort of worked but not well enough. So I quit taking it, but then my care-giver/wife said she could really tell the difference in my posture and general expression when I quit taking it, so I went back on it and have been on it now for 3-4…[Read more]

But you can handle it, right? Because you’re Jean Mellano and no stupid f***ing disease is going to beat you down!! (Pardon my French)

Well, that’s not exactly what I meant. If we pray to God and He always answers our prayers, that doesn’t make us God, it simply removes the necessity for faith, because then we have scientific proof that God exists: He (or She or Someone/Something) always answers our prayers. And indirectly, this would influence our free will, because praying now…[Read more]

I believe in God, but I’m not sure “healing on command”, that is, praying to get well, would be a good thing. If everyone who prayed were healed and others who didn’t weren’t, everyone would pray because it worked and there would be no reason for faith, which is belief in what can’t be proved, which is for me an essential part of life.

Not yet. But I don’t know how I’d be without meds. I can still touch type, run up the stairs, walk fast, balance on one foot for 60 seconds…
However, I know I’ll only get worse as time goes on, so disability is right around the corner.

I was 64 when my initial tremors were misdiagnosed as essential tremor and 66 when they did a definitive DaTscan (I’ll be 70 in June).

> Have you always been a writer? Do you have any other writing you could share with us?
I’ve always tried to be a writer. I have some books in Catalan on English grammar published. You could google Anglès fàcil.
> Have you always been a writer?
I used to be a musician; google Robert the Robot and Lou the Human
> What is your wife doing in T…[Read more]

First I’d have to get it published here; then it would have to sell really well before anyone would risk publishing an English version. As far as finishing it goes, I hope by the beginning of next year to be in time for Saint George’s Day, April 23, a day in which all the Catalan women buy books for their men and all the men buy roses for their…[Read more]

In Catalan they say “Man proposes, God disposes” (“disposar” means “put things in order”).

I have back stiffness when I’ve slept 5-6 hours solid, which doesn’t happen often, but it goes away as the day wears on. It may be too because I had two herniated disks removed 40 years ago. As you say, yoga helps. But I have no way of knowing how I’d be if I didn’t have PD or do yoga.

Weather doesn’t get very extreme near Barcelona, but it’s uncomfortably hot in July and August. So I stay indoors with the AC on during the day. But no, the weather doesn’t seem to affect my PD.