I'll try to keep this brief but I have a situation that I'm wondering if
anyone else has dealt with.  To explain:  I am 59.  I have had PD symptoms
approx. 4 years prior to diagnosis.  After running from neurologists to
rheumatologist to sport's clinician to chiropractors over a 3 year period, I
was finally dx'd with PD about 4 months ago.  When the diagnosis came I was
,of course, in shock but one of the many things that ran through my mind was
"Now, I can let down some.  I have a name to a physical disorder that is
real.  I don't have to feel so guilty about being a little slower than
everyone else around me.  I have a reason for some occasional complaints
about aches & pains. I don't have to feel so lazy when I need to take a nap".

Well, now I find myself in a strange situation..."while I'm turning into
Grandma Moses, my husband's turning into the Energizer Rabbit."  He too has
some health problems, high blood pressure & borderline diabetic.  He has been
controlling the diabetes with exercise & that's great but since my diagnosis,
he seems to be flying around here like "Superman".  He goes to the health
club 3 days a week (his usual routine) but now has added his volleyball
league on Monday night, goes to church to walk 3 mornings a week and just
started Tuesday night basketball/volleyball. All the while, I'm feeling like
a "schlump" because I don't always feel like making the church walking
program.

He accompanied me to my visit to my neuro this week.  I am taking Requip
which, at first, made me sleepy all the time.  Now I'm also getting used to a
new drug "Neurontin" which makes me feel like I've been on a 3 day drinking
binge.  Between the Requip, the Neurontin and the generalized fatigue that
goes with PD, I'm having some frustrating days where I sleep a whole lot or
just mope around "spaced out". Now, the crux of the problem is: My husband is
sitting there listening while my neuro is telling me to keep active.  That I
must work through the pain.  He uses the example that he walks 7 miles 3x's a
week even when he doesn't feel like it.  Ugh!
I would like to pump him full of drugs till he can't see straight, tie a rope
around one of his legs and insert a red hot poker into his left hip and ask
him to demonstrate his walking program.
Well, the long & short of the story is that along with the PD "label" does
not come automatic permission to give up or let down.  So...if anyone else
has experienced a similar situation I'd like to hear how they handled it.
P.S. I do not mean to make it sound as if my husband is not supportive and
caring.  He is!  I know he wants the best for me & is probably using his
activity as an inspiration & motivation for me.  But, right now, it is
backfiring & is just kind of making me feel like a deadbeat.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask]
In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn