>Date:  Mon, 22 Jul 1996 01:29:41 +0000 (GMT)
>From:  [log in to unmask]
>To:    [log in to unmask]
>Subject:       Falling down
>
>To: Margaret Tuchman  < [log in to unmask]  >
>
>Hello Margaret.
>              Many thanks for that deluge of mail. I thought it was my
>birthday!  I haven't checked yet, but I think I had received most of those
>notes myself - This blockage seems to work in one direction only. It gets
>stranger by the day. Tomorrow I can start leaning on Globalnet, to see
> what
>they have to say.
>   Would you please transmit this to the list - it represents my
> experience,
>which seems a little different to some.
>
>Re: Falling down.
>
>I am at the stage where (If I inadvertantly miss my tablet time and go into
>an Off condition), I experience the stuttering steps when trying to move
> off,
>and although I have not fallen over yet, I can see how easily it could
> happen.
>
>I find that the way to get myself going is to switch from "unconscious"
> mode
>to "conscious" mode.  Unconscious mode is the way non-PD people do it,
> where
>90% of the messages from the brain to the body are taken care of by sub-
>systems which we are barely aware of. In our case, there are not many plugs
>left in the switchboard between the brain and the body, so we have to make
>choices about which function our brain is going to support. I find that the
>freezing or stuttering steps occur when my attention has been diverted to
>something else, like trying to carry a cup of coffee without spilling it.
>( It's like the rather harsh joke about a certain ex-president, of whom it
>was said: He can think, and chew gum - but just not at the same time. )
>
>An interesting point is that I usually find that after I have focussed my
>attention back onto what my legs are getting up to, it becomes obvious
> that my
>weight distribution is all wrong, and if I had moved off from the position
>which I was in, I probably would have fallen over. A quick shift of weight
>from on foot to the other, and off I go. It would seem that the stuttering
> is
>caused by the weakened remains of our unconscious system trying to warn us
>that we are in a potentially dangerous position. So the message would seem
> to
>be : Listen to your body- it still knows a thng or two.
>
>Regards,  Brian Collins.
>
>
>