Greetings to my fellow Parkinsonians, and Happy New Year. (At first
when I heard that term, I thought it referred to someone from
Parkinsaw. I'm a 59 y/o male, and was diagnosed with PD about 10 years
ago, I take Sinemet (50/250 CR) 3x day, Mirapex 3X day, Zoloft and
Klonapin. Before the PD was diagnosed I suffered from unexplainable
panic attacks stemming from worry about unresolved physical symptoms. I
knew something was wrong but the medical communitry marked it down as
emotional. (My tombstone will read: See, I told you I was ill)
My biggest problem is tremor, which sometimes is controlled by the meds
but othertimes not. I'm the best in the morning, and worse at night. I
still play basketball and golf, and am only constrained by the eventual
loss in energy. After exercise, though, the tremor is worse. I'd love
to have one of the several operations to attack the tremor in its lair,
but suspect I'm not bad-off enough for the med community to put me
through that.
The most successful way I've been able to fight this beast is by staying
busy doing anything to take my mind off the depressing reality involved.
I'm retired from the federal government, am a ham radio operator
(W4NSE), and run a small internet business involving guitar music.
Although PD would make it difficult to work full-time, I've found that
having passionate interests in which I can deeply involve myself is
very helpful getting my mind off the negative nature of this incurable,
progressive disease. For example, developing an internet business is
not easy, but the journey has been fun and good therapy. Learning to
play a musical instrument , of course, many feel is one of the most
rewarding activities around. Although my dexiterity is really poor, I
still practice daily to fight off the stiffness. The main benefit
is that it gets me involved in something which is totally divorced from
medical issues and PD, at least part of the day.
So again, Happy New Year. Remember, only 12 more months until the Y2K
mess makes its appearence. I'm going to make sure I have enough
medicine on-hand to ride out possible screw-ups between the computer
systems of the insurance companies ("our records show that you are not
due for a refill"), and the pharmacies ("you're not in our data base").
I'm going to start setting aside a few pills each month to help build up
a small reserve; no sense in getting caught shorthanded. I'm sure
Murphy's Law will be alive and well. Well, signing off for now,
stiffness/tremor coming on right on schedule so it's time for breakfast
and Mirapex.
John Bjork
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