Parkie Prophet Predicts Panoply of PD-related Summer Meetings

Who can say what the future holds? Well, good news, I can! At least as far as next two meetings of the distinguished APDSG are concerned. Our upcoming meeting will be held June 16th. We will have a presentation on hallucinations and delusions in PD from Gail Howshikowa. Gail is a drug company salesperson. She works for the company that makes  NUPLAZID ® (pimavanserin). Touted as "the first and only medication approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson’s disease pychosis." 

 

The wise and moderate Ron Broom and I have a disagreement about people giving presentations on subjects they have a financial stake in. Ron objects to such presentations on the grounds of conflict of interest. I agree this is true, they have a conflict. But I also think if you know that the presenter has something to sell, you can size up what they have to say and judge for yourselves.  And I believe it will make for  a good meeting topic. So that is  our June meeting.

What is happening on our July 21 Meeting? It's the Summer potluck! This promises to be the PD event of the season. For one thing,  it will be held away from our regular meeting place. Instead the potluck venue will be my house. Directions to follow.

What to bring? I say bring whatever you like. It's a potluck, after all. If you need more guidance than "whatever", how about bringing something that is particularly apropos to a healthy anti-Parkinson's diet? You can find out what foods are good for people with PD here. We'll meet to eat at our usual time, 3:30. Looking forward to seeing you all. If you have any pull with whomever is in charge of the weather, put in a word for Sun in Anchorage

on July 21!

Thus spake Peter, Supreme Grand Exalted Parkie

"Distractable Me" From the NWPF Community Blog

Here is a post I did for the Northwest Parkinson's Disease Foundation's  Community Blog, reposted with their permission. This was a piece I was a bit nervous about posting because the "meta" nature of the message seemed like it might elude some. But it seemed to go over just fine. Whew! For your reading pleasure, Off and On presents "Distractible Me"

Remember the good old days when Parkinson’s Disease was thought to be a problem centered in the substantia nigra, a tiny structure in the deep brain? Good times! We thought if we could just discipline this wayward little piece of our mind, we could solve the problem of Parkinson’s. Now we are sadder but wiser, aware of changes elsewhere in the brain, and beyond, that tell us the problem is more widespread than we assumed.

For example, the pre-frontal cortex, home of our “executive function” (ability to plan, organize, initiate, and regulate goal directed behavior) is degraded by Park… oh, excuse me, that’s my pill timer… I use the timer on my phone, it’s convenient and… hey! New message from Paul… haven’t heard from him in a dog’s age. Why did they have to make messenger a separate app? It’s… oh look! 17 new notifications! And this is a totally different Paul than the one I was thinking of. Who ARE these people anyway? As long as I’ve got the phone out, I should check my email, and WHOA!… There’s a woodpecker in the back yard! I should take a picture, they have such handsome plumage. That bold red, black and white combination is so classic… Damn! They always fly off before I can get the camera app booted up, and… LOOK at the TIME! 12:30! Lunch hour! But hang on a second, why is my pill case out? Oh, right. Timer went off, I was supposed to take a pill. Did I take it, or not? Better do a pill count and see if I can figure it out… OK… so there are five pills left and I normally have four by this time, so I forgot one. I guess we can assume it was the last one. Well, let’s see… I’m about a half hour late… take it now, and delay lunch to avoid any protein interaction? Or eat now and just tough out any freezing until the next scheduled dose? Better eat now. (wanders into kitchen, makes lunch, freezes up, festinates back to computer) Where was I? Oh yeah, not sure “teleological” is exactly the right word for what I want to say here, better look it up. Hmm. Having looked it up now I’m even less sure what it means. Well, as George Orwell put it, never use a fancy obscure word where a plain one will do. Although he used “George Orwell” instead of his real name, “Eric Blair” when “Eric Blair” would have done fine. But I guess Walt Whitman was right when he pointed out “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of a small mind.” What is a hobgoblin anyway? Is it any different from a regular goblin? If so, how? If not, why have a separate word for it? Better look that up as well. No! Must concentrate on the task at hand!… Which is…. What?… Oh yes,  writing about the debilitating nature of distractibility when one is dealing with PD. Although, given their distractible natures, I have to wonder if any of my fellow parkies will  actually read this far. Hmm, do I want to use the term “parkie”? Some people with Parkinson’s find it offensive, although why they should be offended by that when there is so much out there that is more offensive, you just wonder where they find the hours in a day to devote to... OMG!.. squirrel! SQUIRREL!!!!!!!!!… (Sound of breaking glass, thud of body hitting ground, running feet, angry scolding from indignant squirrel.)

Life in Slow-Mo: Freeze Tag

Medication is a constant strategy game. Sometimes, I lose.

Lifestyle Tool Kit for Parkinson's Disease. A Video from the Davis Phinney Foundation

Here is a video that gives excellent pointers on things you can do with diet, exercise etc. to manage your PD better. From the Davis Phinney Foundation:"Claire Henchcliffe, MD, Phil of Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City gives viewers tips to build their own “Parkinson’s Lifestyle Toolkit,” including medication awareness, medical support, nutrition, exercise, emotional well being and complementary therapies. Dr. Henchcliffe discusses warning signs in each of these critical areas to living well with Parkinson’s and provides recommendations on how to effectively integrate them into daily life. Her prescription for taking action includes practical steps, designed to improve quality of life right now and make it last."

A Day With Parkinson's, page 6

To see the entire day sequenced in one post, look here

Spot the Parkie! Riotous Third Installment!

(Click image to enlarge)