Hello Jack,
Your e-mail just arrived at a moment that I was asking myself the same =
question. Feeling obliged to my physique I bought a bicycle about 4 =
weeks ago. Not to exaggerate things I started to make trips of 20 km =
(~13 miles) for about 2 weeks, twice a week.
After I overcame the infamous saddle-pain I increased it the third week =
to double that distance. I noticed though on one occasion that my right =
leg felt completely paralyzed and since this was the very first time =
this happened to me, it scared me a lot.=20
Last Monday I was bold enough to go for a 70 km ride. Except for being =
dog-tired it was a satisfactory ride and I felt proud. The subsequent =
night I slept very restlessly and the next day I felt some sort of =
depressed. It is now Friday as I write this and only today I feel a bit =
better.=20
I've been affected by PD mainly on my right side and according to my =
physician it is a question of time that also my left side will be =
tainted. Only this week had I problems with my left hand, which as =
already said is recovering a little today. I haven't been on my bicycle =
this week anymore, since I feel a bit shaky about it.
I was surprised to read that you had a similar kind of experience too. I =
was thinking maybe that I used so much dopamine in the exercises, that =
it took almost 4 days to feel a bit better.
I wonder if you stopped also and felt better after a few days as well.

I'm not going to stop bicycling though, but what I would have imagined =
to be good for my body and soul turned out sour on me and makes me feel =
even more shaky about my future.
By the way I'm not taking any medications, since the negative =
side-effects didn't weigh against the positive ones.
Hope this add some to your information.
Regards,

        Jan Rolff



----------
From:   JACK TIBBS[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Thursday, August 08, 1996 22:29 PM
To:     Multiple recipients of list PARKINSN
Subject:        I have a problem

--snip--
All this was not unexpected but the decreased physical activity meant =
that I was becoming unfit. Not liking the thought of that and feeling =
that a good level of physical fitness should leave me better equipped to =
cope with Parkinson's I borrowed an exercise bicycle from a friend and =
started to go to work on that. Which brings me to my question. I have =
been using the bicycle now for a few months and my cardiovascular system =
is presumably no worse for it. But I am less sure about the absence of =
an effect on Parkinson's. I feeI I have deteriorated recently more =
rapidly than previously and that this deterioration has paralleled the =
use of the bicycle.
So my question is-

"What is known about possible factors which speed up the deterioration =
arising from Parkinson's and is fairly strenuous exercise likely to be =
one of these?"

I shall be very pleased to hear from anybody who can relate to this one.

Jack Tibbs([log in to unmask])