“I Suppose Some Days You Forget That You Have Parkinson’s?”

A Friend Once Said That To Me.

Unfortunately there is rarely an hour that goes by that I am not reminded that I am living with Parkinson’s disease, a progressive disease for which there is no cure.

Living Life

From the moment I wake up (after an intermittent night’s sleep), as I turn to take my medication, Parkinson’s is already obvious as I am stiff and sore.

The rest of the day I will have alarms set to remind me to take more medication while also adhering to fasting, so the levadopa can cross the blood brain barrier. I also do some form of exercise, speech practice and I try to follow the Mediterranean diet to help manage my symptoms.

I have pain which gets worse when my medication wears off. I slow down quite a bit. My left arm stops swinging and my foot starts to drop. I have to plan strenuous activities like gardening around my “on” times.

So there are a lot of things to remind me I have this disease, but I try to do things to distract myself from pain and look after my mental health.

Some of the symptoms include depression, anxiety and apathy, so I work hard to keep these at bay. I like to keep social, connect with other people living with Parkinson’s, (who are now good friends) attend art classes, up cycle, and write poems.

I try not to think about the years ahead as nobody knows how things will be whether you have a disease or not.

I now realise life is precious, so I need to make the most of it and I am thankful for the lots of positive aspects I have in my life.

Taking a day at a time with Parkinson’s, which never takes a day off!