Marlene Donnelly

Gil Williams, your wife is a lucky woman, as am I.  I was diagnosed 11 years ago, and my husband has been my rock.  He knows that my appetite is not what it used to be and I tend to get tired by late afternoon, so he has taken over the job of preparing dinner on a regular basis,  Since he is by far a better cook than I am, we both benefit with hi…[Read more]

I know the majority of people with seem to have difficult sleeping, but that is not my experience.  I was diagnosed over 11  years ago, and I sleep through for 8 – 9 hours of solid sleep almost every night.  I am a night owl, so I rarely go to bed before 12:30, and if I’m reading a good book, I may be up until 2:00, but then I will sleep until 10…[Read more]

My husband and I have a 16 year old tuxedo cat named Zach who rules this house.   We have had cats during most of our 53 years of marriage and have always felt we get so much more from our cats than we give them.  We love Zach to pieces, and I have no doubt that being Zach’s maid only helps with my PD.  If I’m feeling fine, Zach makes sure I do…[Read more]

Though I haven’t taken PD fitness classes, I have been taking T’ai Chi, Yoga, and Arthritis Exercise classes, all geared for seniors, and all have been a help.  None are back in person yet, but they all are on Zoom – same instructors at the same times and days.  I use my guest bedroom for these classes, and have been able to keep going t…[Read more]

My first comment is to Krukar:  Have you tried a class of T’ai Chi (yoga helps too)?  I have had PD for 11 years.  I often fell during the first couple of years but then took a T’ai Chi Chih class because I read that it could help.  Since then I have hardly fallen at all!  I rarely lose my balance anymore, ans when I do I am able to catch myse…[Read more]

I have found that caffeinated mints (comes as gum too) help.  Drinking a cup of coffee bothers my stomach, but I have no problem with these.  I use the Viter Energy brand that is online.  Their sample pack is inexpensive, and once I found I liked them, the offers available make the cost of these mints very reasonable.

I have multiple illnesses, some I feel are somewhat related to my PD and others not so.  I also have Fibromyalgia, and I think there can be a connection with these two conditions.  I am never sure which of the two causes the pain I experience; I’m assuming both contribute.  I also have a pacemaker because without it my heart rate dips too low, on…[Read more]

I dream often.  Most are pleasant, but maybe once every other week I have what I call a PD dream.  They are always related to teaching (I taught happily for about 33 years), and always cause anger and anxiety because things are going very wrong.  I NEVER had the problems in real life that I do in my dreams!  I wake up exhausted, and frequently my…[Read more]

Temperatures above the high 70s make me feel sick – nauseous, light-headed, and very uncomfortable.  Before PD this was not the case.  I spend most of my days from May until October indoors with air conditioning (we live in NJ).  I am also less tolerant of cold than I used to be, though that’s not as bad as the heat.  In the house I keep the the…[Read more]

I completely agree with the three comments above!  I think it is very important for others to understand the variability of PD.  Each person’s journey is different, and for that one person we focus on, the journey for that person is also extremely variable.  One day (or hour!) may be very different from the next.  I choose to consider PD my adv…[Read more]

I never thought of this as a PD problem. Like you, Charles, I have many health issues and lots of daily medications. I was diagnosed with PD over 10 years ago, and for many years this was also part of my reality. Even had to have a plumber in on one occasion. The plumbing solution was to find a very long shoehorn and slice up the stool (of…[Read more]

I have been taking virtual exercise classes since last spring, when the exercise classes (yoga, t’ai chi, general exercise) I had been taking at my local hospital stopped having our regular classes. These classes are given by the same instructors at the same time as we had previously had our classes, and I find them to be excellent. I also have…[Read more]

Shelly, I also have chest tremors on occasion. mine are not as bad as yours – my entire torso does not vibrate, and they have never woken me up – but they definitely are disconcerting, much more so than the tremors in my right hand.

I was diagnosed with PD about 10 years ago and am 73 years old. During the first couple of years I had a couple of really bad falls. Then I signed up for a T’ai Chi class at my local hospital. That helped me focus on the steps I take, first starting on the heel and moving toward the toe. What had been happening was that I was putting my whole…[Read more]

Jo, you struck a chord when you spoke of yelling and screaming some nights. I do that too on occasion. Usually it is in early morning, and often my husband is already up, so I don’t scare him, but he can hear me from the kitchen. I am invariably dreaming about teaching, something I did for about 33 years and loved doing. My dreams usually…[Read more]

I’m from NJ, and we were hit hard in March and April. At that point our daughter did our grocery shopping because both my husband and I are high risk individuals, he with heart issues and me with asthma and heart issues besides PD. We have been doing much more online shopping, and my daughter cuts my hair. Now that things have calmed down my…[Read more]

I understand about how two illnesses can complicate things. I have fibromyalgia as well as PD – there is always pain, but from which one? I gave up trying to match the symptoms with the illness and just look to treat the symptom as well as possible.

As for my most bizarre symptom, I call this my PD perk. I have lost my sense of smell, but not…[Read more]

Mary Beth,

The first class I took was T’ai Chi Chih, which is one of the many forms of T’ai Chi. Parkinson’s disease had caused me to take a couple of really nasty falls, and what I found was that this class gave me my balance back and essentially eliminated further falls. Then I tried Yoga, and that continued to help with my balance along with…[Read more]

For the past couple of weeks I have been taking two different Chair Yoga classes besides the Qigong class. I found it really interesting that they were so different from each other, one definitely more gentle and the other more physical. I tried two different Zumba classes, but they were both too much for me! I have been using my computer,…[Read more]