Mary Klein / John Klein

We are hanging in there and breathing a sigh of relief that the weather is finally becoming much more pleasant here in Southern Ontario.  There is nothing fun about going out for walks with a cold, biting wind howling at you!  Having a large breed dog to walk definitely encourages us to be outdoors for daily walks.  The whole neighbourhood is ou…[Read more]

Our Rock Steady Fitness instructor has arranged at-home classes, through Zoom, three times a week for all participants.  We probably had our first class today.  It ran for the full hour at the same time we would generally be at the gym together.  It was encouraging to see how many joined in – pretty much the entire class.  Lots of waves and lau…[Read more]

We, too, believe that one of the best therapies is exercise and keeping active.  My hubby had his knee replaced last June – less than a month after his Parkinson’s diagnosis.  This surgery turned out well – but there will always be certain limitations.  After having joined Rock Steady Boxing in December, once the knee was healed, he has found it…[Read more]

Our best friend struggled through being a full-time caregiver for her husband who had Parkinson’s for approx. 15 years.  Most of those years they did well.  The last 3 or 4 were far more challenging (also his age was advancing – he was 80 by then – but formerly very young for his age – in looks and actions).  If I didn’t know otherwise, I would ha…[Read more]

All your posts have been a delight to read.  Some great insights and ideas to ponder!!!

My husband (who has PD) and I are optimists I would say.  This disease is such that it is impossible to predict the course it will take.  For this reason, we remain hopeful that his type of PD will hold its own for some time.  We also keep the faith that newer and better treatment options will be on the market over time.  We have just taken the…[Read more]

Our friend who had back pain used a heating pad.  He seemed to experience the pain when sitting for some time.  So far, my husband does not have any.  I believe it might be caused by muscle spasms.  My husband is enrolled in Rock Steady Boxing 3x a week so is doing a fair bit of exercise, stretching and wonder if this is also benefiting him by kee…[Read more]

My husband first noticed a left-handed tremor about two years ago.  He was not formally diagnosed  until close to a year ago.  His tremor has increased slightly but still very sporadic.  He joined Rock Steady Boxing which has been a great help physically and emotionally.  Still not on any medication but follows/up with the Neurologist every six…[Read more]

Hi Tina,

If you have the urge to write but typing is problematic, perhaps you could use one of the dictation aids – Dragon for instance.  Then you could get your thoughts down quickly.   This might be very helpful.

Try and find a Rock Steady Boxing group in your area – it is wonderful for the exercise component and also for the comraderie.  We are finding that you have to be pro-active and do some of your own research -as long as our sources are credible.

We are somewhat surprised that Family Physicians don’t seem to be aware of some of the well-known symptoms associated with Parkinson’s (loss of smell, sleep disorders included) that can be powerful clues and that they seemingly aren’t trained to make an assessment based on gait etc.  Your Neurologist and ours knew within a couple of minutes just…[Read more]

Hi Ally,

Yes, once we had a confirmation of the diagnosis, we could at least do some further research into what we could do on a personal level.  One of the first things we discovered on-line was the recommendation to join a Rock Steady Boxing group.  Fortunately for us, there is a group about a half an hour from us.  This form of exercise has be…[Read more]

My hyusband was noticing left-hand tremors for a couple of months before he brought it up to our doctor.  The doctor immediately said not to jump to any conclusions – that a tremor could have several causes.  He told him to come back in a few months.  My husband only lasted a couple more months before he went back to see him and asked for a re…[Read more]

This is encouraging information regarding your mom’s decade of use without severe side effects.  My husband was diagnosed close to a year ago (he had left hand tremors for a few months prior) and, at this stage, since there has been no real progression to speak of, he is still without any medication.  His next f/up appt. with his Neurologist is i…[Read more]

Tony, thank you for sharing your experience with becoming overly-emotional…..my husband has handled his diagnosis much like you – in good spirits and thankful it wasn’t an even worse diagnosis.  He is on no medications at this point (he was formally diagnosed almost a year ago).  However, he also finds that he is more emotional than usual – a s…[Read more]

I was just reviewing some of the topics and came across yours regarding REM sleep disorder.  My husband likely was experiencing this periodically long before he was diagnosed.  His first symptom was a loss of smell which occurred about 8 years ago or so.  He was just diagnosed in May 2019 after having a let-handed tremor for several months.  How…[Read more]

I think, for those people with Parkinson’s that don’t have any symptoms of dementia, it is important that they try not to become overly worried that they will most certainly develop this.  The stats are somewhere between 50 and 80% of patients will have this issue – however, I am sure this figure is so unprecise as so many people with PD are…[Read more]

After researching on-line for the best resources to help with Parkinson’s, we discovered Rock Steady Boxing.  Luckily, there was a location about half an hour away.  They hold classes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for one hour.  A full class consists of 30 people.  the fitness trainer running this class went directly to the Head Office of Roc…[Read more]

It is amazing to see how differently this illness surfaces and progresses with each individual.  Thank you for your advice re stress.  This is something we will control the best way we can.  Having joined Rock Steady Boxing has been the best thing for my hubby – he is a social person to begin with but no one understands better than those af…[Read more]

Hi Jean,

Although my husband and I are new to this forum, we are very excited to be joining in on these valuable conversations.  This is exactly what we had hope we could find as an on-line resource!

Wishing you all the best and looking forward to hearing from you in the future.

Mary & John Klein