Blog
Last month we profiled the PWR! Moves Program as one of the two exercise programs now accredited by the Parkinson’s Foundation that is offered in the greater Cincinnati area. The second of those two is known around the world and is very popular – Rock Steady Boxing. As included in their mission statement, their goal is “to improve the quality of life for people with Parkinson’s disease through a non-contact, boxing-based fitness curriculum.”
In 2018, I was experiencing memory issues; I couldn’t remember what happened the day before or memories from a few years back. For 10 years I had experienced REM sleep disorders. My sleep doctor recommended me to Dr Rhonna Shatz, a UC neurologist. She diagnosed me with a form of Parkinson’s Disease in 2019.
So you have heard about the Parkinson Foundation recommendations for exercise. You know you need to do Parkinson-specific exercise. But how do you know which exercise class offers a PD-specific workout? Now the Parkinson Foundation (a national organization whose mission is to improve care for people with Parkinson’s and to advance research toward a cure) has started its program to accredit programs that train exercise instructors in PD-specific methods. Of the first three programs that achieved this accreditation, two are available in our area.
Well it is that time of year again! Parkinson Support & Wellness is excited to announce our annual 5k fundraiser is on October 1st at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. The race start time is at 10am this year, versus the usual 9am. We made this decision to push back the race start time to allow our racers with Parkinson Disease to have some extra time in the morning to let their bodies warm up!
Sleep is essential for all people. The recommended amount of sleep for adults is eight hours each night. A pattern of good sleep can improve psychological, emotional and cognitive function. It can also strengthen the immune system and regulate appetite and blood pressure and more. It is the ultimate system reset. But disturbances in healthy sleep patterns are one of the most common non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. So what can you do about your sleep difficulties?
Mark Lacker, one of PSW’s board members, teaches a class at Miami University called ESP 321: Startup Development Using SCRUM . His class for the past semester has been working on projects for PSW that have actionable deliverables that we will be rolling out in the next few months. We can’t thank them enough for all their hard work!
I've been avidly reading Louise Penny books- her Inspector Gamache Series. They are beautifully written with rich character voices that struggle with the big questions in life. Yesterday I came upon this and thought about my life and how that way of holding on to the good things could help me: “What do you love Isabelle?”
We may have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, but in some ways we are lucky. The Parkinson’s community is lucky that a quite young, quite handsome, and quite well-known actor was also diagnosed with the same disorder and that he has been willing to lend his name, his fame, and his money to the cause of research for Parkinson’s disease.
“Doctor knows best.” Not so long ago, this was the prevailing attitude about making health care decisions. The doctor was the expert who made the diagnosis and initiated the treatment; the patient played only a small role in decision-making. But this approach won’t work with Parkinson’s disease. The person with Parkinson’s must be fully engaged in recognizing symptoms, assessing their severity, and deciding if a treatment is working.
I want to tell my father’s story and the part of it that is my story. I need to tell it. It’s been inside me for so long, and I’ve shared pieces, but it has evolved. I come to a greater understanding of it all the time, through the people I meet in this work, through hearing their struggles and their stories of hope, by telling pieces of my dad’s story and hearing people’s reactions to it, through learning new things about trauma and about myself. These things cause more of the tiny little lights strung across the darkness to turn on and help me to see things more clearly.
At Vibrant Aging, our focus is helping people to choose to be the best version of themselves every day for the rest of their life. In January 2021, I shared my pursuit of developing a free video/audio meditation with a few musician friends and a voice coach, in hopes of recruiting their talents. I am excited to announce that we have finally completed the project. This “TLC for the Nervous System”. I hope it helps you to find calm during stressful times!
