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>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. > > >