Parkinson's Trivia: A PD Activity You Can Do With Your Support Groiup

The question comes up every month. What to do for the support group? I've hit up the voice pathologist three times now, the dietitian twice, and the kindly movement disorders doctor twice, too. I need something fresh, that hasn't been  done to death. Something to get the group interacting with each other. After beating my defective brain out, it came to to me: Parkinson's trivia!

I set up a few categories, did some light research on the Web, and, hey, presto! Instant meeting. You're welcome. Here are the questions and answers.

Category 1: Well-Known PWP

1.) This Man was the subject of a bio pic starring Will Smith.

Answer: Muhammad Ali

2.) This British actor, who starred in 1960’s films like “Monte Carlo or Bust” was noted for his roles as an upper class cad.  Answer: Terry Thomas

3.) Possibly the worst person in history, ___________ was a frustrated artist who rose to power in the 1930’s in Germany.    Answer: Adolph Hitler

4.) This dictator was  the subject of as running joke on Saturday Night Live “_________ ______ _________is still dead.”     Answer Generalissimo Francisco Franco

5.) This dictator was known for his “Little Red Book”  A: Mao Tse Tung

6.) This Photographer was noted for her Depression-era images During her unique career, __________________ was torpedoed in the Mediterranean, strafed by the Luftwaffe, stranded on an Arctic island, bombarded in Moscow, and pulled out of the Chesapeake when her chopper crashed. She was the first Western photographer to document Soviet industry after the revolution, to create a travelogue of Czechoslovakia and other Balkan states just before Hitler moved in to ignite World War II, and was stationed in Moscow just before Germany bombed its former ally.    A: Margaret Bourke-White

7.) Author and disillusioned Communist, _________ _______ is most famous for his novel attacking Stalin's regime, "Darkness at Noon", but wrote on Science, Judaism, and the paranormal as well.
A: Arthur Koestler 

9.) Surrealist Painter, known for walking his anteater on the streets of Paris. A: Salvador Dali

10.) This evangelist preacher was known for his association with presidents like Nixon and Johnson.  A: Billy Graham

11.) This man was the leader of one of the world’s biggest Christian denomionations  A: Pope John Paul

!2.) Champion American cyclist started a foundation to inspire and inform People with Parkinson’s          A: Davis Phinney

13. A neurologist, and the first person to run a four-minute mile  A: Roger Bannister

14,) American Writer and Journalist, formerly of  The New Republic And Slate A: Michael Kinsley

15,) American actor who specialized in Macabre, creepy roles   A: Vincent Price

16.) One pf the great singers to come out of Rock and Roll, this 11- time Grammy winner later went on to sing standards and perform in Gilbert and Sullivan on Broadway    A: Linda Ronstadt

17.) This Country Music legend was known as “The Man In Black”.  A: Johnny Cash

18.)English actor who made his reputation as a tough guy in movies like “Mona Lisa” and “Who killed Roger Rabbit?”    A: Bob Hoskins

Category 2: Symptoms 

1.) PD symptoms involving the ability to move are called “________ Symptoms”
A: Motor

2.) PD symptoms that do not involve moving are called"__________ symptoms”  A: non-motor

3.) The loss of this sense can precede onset of motor symptoms by a decade.  A: Smell

4.) Diagnosis of PD depends on what three symptoms?   A: Tremor, slowness, stiffness

5.) REM  ________ disturbance can be one of the early symptoms of PD  A: sleep

6.)  By the time motor symptoms appear, PD Patients have lost  _______ percent of the dopamine producing neurons in the deep part of their brains   A: 65-80

7.) Involuntary dance-like movements that some people with PD exhibit are not a symptom of the disease, but a side-effect of what medication?  A: Sinemet

8.) A soft, hoarse ____________ is a frequent symptom of PD. A: Voice

9.) The tiny handwriting associated with PD is called _______________.   A.) micrographia

10.)  The parkisonian gait, characterized by a rapid shuffling of the feet is called __________   A: festination.

11.)  A symptom that appears often before the onset of motor symptoms is _____________, which can be treated with prunes.  A: constipation

12.) ________________ are a non-motor symptom that involves seeing things that don’t exist. It  is more common in older patients, or those with dementia than those who do not have dementia.  A: hallucinations

13.) “Bradykinesia” means  _______________  A: slow movement

14.) A resting remor” characteristic of PD diminishes when muscles are  ____________   A:  moving.

15.)  “The Pull Test”  a moderately  forceful backwards tug is performed by doctors to assess _______________   A: balance problems

16.) It is difficult to read the emotions of many PWP because of  “Facial ___________”                  A: masking

17.) The often painful involuntary tensing of  muscles common in PD is known as _________    A: dystonia

18.) Reduced swallowing in PD leads to _______________   A: drooling

Category three: Treatment

1.) Sinemet known as the  “gold Standard” for PD treatment is a combination of what two substances?    A: levodopa and carbidopa

2.)  Carbidopa is added to levodopa to prevent patients from __________.  A: vomiting

3.) Drugs like Requip and Mirapex are drugs that act as replacements or helpers to dopamine in the brain are called “dopamine ______________   A: agonists

4.) Carbidopa And Levodopa, or “Sinemet” was first developed in what decade?  A.) the 1960s

5.)  Obsessive gambling, shopping or sexual activity have been unwanted side-effects most associated with what type of PD drugs? ______________   A: dopamine agonists

6.) DBS is an acronym for what?  A: Deep Brain Stimulation

7.) Exercise, when done properly can reduce  symptoms by as much as __________     A: 35%

8.) Before the introduction of Sinemet, A patient lived _________ years after diagnosis with PD  A: 10-15

9.)  With Sinemet a person can reasonably hope for a  _______ life span.    A.) Full

10.) Disqualifications for Deep Brain Stimulations include __________ response to Levodopa.  A: poor

11.) Loss of balance can be countered by ___________ A; exercise like  Tai Chi and Yoga

12.) Phasing in a new medication by slowly increasing the dosage over an extended time is called  ___________    A: Titrating

14.) The drugs known as MOA-B inhibitors block a chemical in the brain that ________________  dopamine in the brain     A:  breaks down

15.) What is the best form of exercise form of exercise for PD?   A: Whatever you will do regularly and stick with.

16. If you suffer from, and are not treated for ______________ , this non-motor symptom will make it difficult to  effectively treat the other symptoms of PD   A: depression

17.) The earlier one intervenes in treating PD, with medicine or exercise, the better _____________  A: one will handle the disease over time

Radical Steps- Civilizing Parkinson's Disease through Dance

I do not have happy feet. My feet can be downright surly. Uncooperative. Intransigent. At times they refuse to do the simplest things asked of them.  So I took them dancing.

You're thinking "Pete, as the personification, the very incarnation of raw Alaskan woodsplittin', mountain bikin', frigid temperature toleratin' toughness, what in the world are you doing bellying up to the ballet bar for plie practice?"

Fair question. The answer? If I want to maintain my wood splittin', mountain bikin' etc. I need to control the symptoms of Parkinson's Disease as well as possible, as long as I can. Dealing effectively with PD means keeping up your underlying fitness. Dance is an effective way that this can be done. So says the National Institute of Health:

"Dance may address each of the key areas that have been identified as being important for an exercise program designed for individuals with PD. First, dance is an activity performed to music. The music may serve as an external cue to facilitate movement, thus addressing the first recommended component which is the use of external cues. Dance also involves the teaching of specific movement strategies, which is the second recommended component of a PD-specific exercise program. For example, in Argentine tango participants can be taught a very specific strategy for walking backward. They are taught to keep the trunk over the supporting foot while reaching backward with the other foot, keeping the toe of that rear foot in contact with the floor as it slides back and shifting weight backward over the rear foot only after it is firmly planted. Dance also addresses the third recommended component, balance exercises. Throughout dancing, particularly with a partner, one must control balance dynamically and respond to perturbations within the environment (e.g. being bumped by another couple). In fact, people who have danced habitually over their lives are known to have better balance and less variable gait than non-dancers. Additionally, dance-based balance training has been shown to be successful in improving balance in elderly individuals."
 
We are fortunate in Anchorage to have an instructor specially trained by the Mark Morris Dance Program for Parkinson's, Carolyn Lassiter. I went to one of Carolyn's classes (Offered Tuesdays at the Alaska Dance Theater building, 550 E 33rd Ave in Anchorage, from one until two in the afternoon.) It's free, and to get you in the mood to move, there is live piano music. Class started gently with seated exercises then progressed to slightly more advanced moves while we stood at the bar in case we needed it for balance. As we went through the routines, I felt my body warming up. The pleasure of  moving in rhythm to the music began to take hold. And there was the companionship of the other people who had to work as I did against the limitations imposed by PD. What's not to like about this?

I'll be back to Carol's class. The stakes here are high. The better we maintain our ability to walk, to balance, and to flex our bodies, the less chance we will suffer falls, make trips to the hospital, and run the risks that this implies. Furthermore the closer we can approximate our old "normal" lives, the more we will be able to endure the weight of Parkinson's Disease. And the longer we can keep ourselves going, the more chance we will have to benefit from any new developments in Parkinson's care.

Here is a chance to catch Parkinson's off guard. Our natural tendency is to want to fight Parkinson's Disease. But what if we can charm it with a dance?

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