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What's it like, the transition to "off"? I have been taking Sinemet for a little more than a year. I do not propose to think that I can speak for others, only for myself. Consider a a runner starting a long distance race. He has had a good night's sleep and at the start of the race the air temperature is cool and comfortable with no wind. Our runner starts the race at a comfortable speed, one calculated to cover ground at minimal cost. The runner has trained long and hard for this race but the length of the race is designed to test the limits of the contestants. As the race begins the runner feels relaxed and due to long hours of training his body responds without thought or effort. As the race proceeds the runner's body begins to tire and the runner begins haveing to think about what he want's his body to do. As time and miles pass, the act of lifting tired feet, leggs, and arms begins to require mental effort and more physical effort. Towards the end of the race, there is only room in the runner's mind for the physical act of lifting first one legg, then the next, moving one arm forward then the next. Close to the finish line, the runner is depending on his training and desire to make it to the end. People with Parkinsons are required to run a simular race every day, usually multiple times each day. Instead of miles, the race is across minutes. They have had no training. For me the first sign the race is about to start is a tendancy to lean forward which I at first thought ment I was getting tired. Next, my arms begin to feel heavy. Not too bad at first, and in fact i can usually continue to work. However, during the next few minutes the weight of my arms slowly grows to the point that actual physical effort is required to lift my hand to my nose. Next comes the tremor in the right hand that progresses up to the right shoulder. By this time, I must think about setting upright. Typing requires actual thought if the letters are to appear in the proper sequence. My arms are lumps of lead, my hands require my entire focus to do things like buttons, typing, writing. Because of this focus, I lean forward so badly that I must divert one arm for use as a prop to keep me from falling while typing. All of this takes place within the space of thirty minutes, 45 minutes on good days. The thing that, for me, required the most getting used to (i'm still adjusting) is the feel of the "ability" slipping away. At first, I fought to hold on to it. Now, I am begining to learn not to fight it. Is this good, or bad? I do not know. I find that the energy used to fight the slide can be used to prolong the time I have in which I can continue to work. I understand that "off" will become periods of true inability to function at all. Am I making the PD progress faster by accepting the off times and trying to continue to work in spite of them? I guess, at this point, I do not really care. A part of me wants to run on past the logical end of the race, and for now I can let that part of me have it's way. Marvin