Parkinson’s Disease Blogs

“One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can’t utter.” James Earl Jones “Good actions are a guard against the blows of adversity.” Abu Bakr Introduction:  A new part of the recently completed PWR! (Parkinson Wellness Recovery) retreat for 2018 in Scottsdale, AZ ... read more

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 ... read more

Mariette Robijn Obviously I know I’ve got Parkinson’s. But I don’t believe in it. You tend to believe in things that you don’t have or cannot grasp. Things that are intangible. You need faith, in other words, to keep believing. I believe in the child that we lost – I ... read more

We were up early today and had breakfast with Pertti and a grad student from India. That's one of the brilliant ideas behind the World Parkinson Congress. Doctors, researchers, grad students, therapists and people with Parkinson's and their care-partners are all treated as equals and may attend any program they ... read more

The theme for Day Two was inspiration! Read on.We got to breakfast at our hotel earlier today and sat with Jari and his room mate, Pertti, from Finland. Jari and I had been emailing each other during the summer. Jari also had DBS for his Parkinson's disease . His bumps ... read more

The title of this story reminds me of a country song by David Ball called Thinkin' Problem. The opening lyrics are: Yes, I admit I've got a thinkin' problem,She's always on my mind, Her memory goes round and round, I've tried to quit a thousand timesMy new lyrics would be: Yes, I admit I've ... read more

Scarcely two weeks have gone by since I last posted the appearance of a new PD Pundit comic. And now here comes a new one, all shiny and bright! This one is about the necessity of adapting to our new reality, and how to  remake your passion in a way ... read more

If you have Parkinson's disease, you should get to know your friendly drug dealer, also known as your pharmacist. They know more about Parkinson's medications, side effects, as well as food, drug and supplement interactions than even the best Movement Disorder Specialist. Why? Because that's their job.A local pharmacist named ... read more

There are many people who LIVE in Arizona who don't have a clue where Yuma is, so don't feel bad if you don't know. Yuma (pronounced YOU-mah) is in the southwest corner of Arizona. Occasionally, someone will call it YUMM-ah, which I find humorous.  The Colorado river separates Yuma from ... read more

Mariette Robijn Simon Stott is a researcher who makes the unusual effort of explaining the science and research that is currently being conducted on Parkinson’s disease in plain English. He made an even more unusual effort by writing an answer to my blog “Planet Patient vs Planet Researcher.” From his site ... read more

I’ve been on the Keto diet, as well as several other Paleo and plant-based diets in hopes they would help my Parkinson’s symptoms. When my wife and I decided to get serious with our eating life style again, we looked at our options and our focus turned back to doing ... read more

Hey folks, a neo-graphic experiential Parkinson's opportunity shared here! (Translation from Jargonizer: New comic showing how having Parkinson's Disease feels from the inside). For those of you who prefer not to know, or who already know, here's a link to a great spoken word piece about escaping from jail by ... read more

Mariette Robijn If you’ve got Parkinson’s, you tend to think that all those researchers should just get a blooming move on and find a cure. Or an effective therapy at the very least. I trust you researchers think the same. Yet, patients are on a totally different planet to researchers. ... read more

In addition to the blogging I do here, I do  a monthly post for the Northwest Parkinson's Disease Foundation. From time to time I re-post work from there here. This is a favorite from December 2016. It's called Lies That Parkinson's Disease Told me.Yes, I should have known better than ... read more

Hello friends, We have a meeting coming up this Saturday at 3:30 on the fifth floor of the Pioneer Home in glamorous downtown Anchorage.  To get a different angle on PD, my hope is to have a discussion centered around the question "What is something that I learned from having ... read more

“If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is ‘thank you’, it will be enough.” Medieval German Theologian Meister Eckhart “The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the greatest intention.” Khalil Gibran. Preface: Gratitude is good for you. The Roman philosopher Seneca said, “Nothing is ... read more

Mariette Robijn So, we’re finally ready to start boxing, and then they go and patientise it. Does a therapist really need to come and check if I can handle it? That I won’t do myself a mischief? As if a therapist has more idea about boxing or Parkinson’s than I ... read more

“Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.” Jim Valvano “Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.” Brené Brown Parkinson’s disease Awareness Month: Parkinson’s awareness month is exactly that.  You simply start by making people around you familiar with this disorder.  And you can help others learn ... read more

“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” John Wooden “To enjoy the glow of good health, you must exercise.” Gene Tunney Précis: For Parkinson’s Awareness Month, let’s begin with an important reminder/statement that “Exercise is medicine for Parkinson’s disease.”  Coming soon in a future ... read more

“There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something tomorrow.” Orison Swett Marden “Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.” Helen Keller Introduction: Many of us take levodopa/carbidopa for substantial symptomatic relief; however, this dopamine replacement ... read more

I get them weekly. They come via email or through social media but most arrive as comments on one of my blog stories. They usually send several with the exact same wording, because the sender doesn't understand why their "comment" isn't showing up at the end of the story. They don't ... read more

Here is the promised video blog containing my new choreography for Numa Numa Lei! Need I say more? Here's the vblog, v-dog. <g>Go to https://www.youtube.com/Gsi2OS8BRJU in order to view this video ... read more

Hey Parkinpeople, there is a new installment of the PD Pundit up over here. He's only trying to help! ... read more

Mariette Robijn I do boxing, Parkinson’s boxing. Our coach often says: “Come on you lot, try and make it look at least a bit like boxing, eh.” Those are powerful words. They convey a bit of everything: humour, challenge, reality. Because, let’s face it, if you’ve started boxing in your ... read more

Hi everyone. Yep, I've been busy of late. That's mainly why I've not put out a new update for a while. So I thought I would put up this brief update. No video, though I do have some video of me doing choreography to Numa Numa. And no, before anyone ... read more