August 17, 2019 - Parkinson FIT Weekend Update

August 17, 2019 – Parkinson FIT Weekend Update

This Week’s Highlights: Battling neurotransmitters; Interrupted Sleep - why recent changes in Restless Legs treatment may be relevant for some with PD; acetylcholine’s role in PD symptoms; Why Hope Is Important; PD Summer School; positive deviancy; magic therapy; Judas Priest; research briefs & more ...
PAIN: Explaining Why Changes To RLS Treatment Could Be Significant For Parkinson’s Pain

PAIN: Explaining Why Changes To RLS Treatment Could Be Significant For Parkinson’s Pain

If you have Parkinson’s disease and pain or discomfort that interrupts your sleep, then I think I have some fresh insight, and for some, something to discuss with your doctor. (I can’t believe I’m writing an article to explain another article that I wrote, but I’m still processing a lot of this myself.) Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) is a horribly misleading term for a condition that is estimated to affect 5% of the U.S. population. The branding, at least for my mind, connotes a playful condition, when it is actually a painful condition at worst and a sleep-depriving condition at ...
Interrupted Sleep: Exploring Links Between Parkinson’s Disease and Restless Leg Syndrome

Interrupted Sleep: Exploring Links Between Parkinson’s Disease and Restless Leg Syndrome

Restless Legs Syndrome and Parkinson’s disease have interesting dopamine connections. Some Parkinson’s pain may actually be restless legs or arms. Could changes in RLS treatment over the past few years be relevant to getting a good night’s sleep with PD? To those unfamiliar with the condition, the terminology "Restless Legs" makes it difficult to accept as the serious condition that it is. Whenever I hear the term Restless Legs Syndrome, my brain thinks "ants in my pants". I picture myself back in elementary school, being forced to sit at a desk, when I’d rather be running around outside.  That is far from ...