Everyone says that exercise is good for people with Parkinson's. I use to walk 2 miles every day because I live in the country and walking is very pleasant. As I felt worse and worse the last few years I cut back on my walking until I stopped completely about a year ago. Only last week I was diagnosed and started on Carb/levo and started feeling better so I decided to try walking again. I have been walking a little each day and thought it would make me feel better, but honestly it hasn't. I'll start walking a little and feel totally drained and wobbly after just a little bit and have to turn around and come home. When I get home I collapse and it takes a while to get back to where I was before I went for the walk. All I hear is how exercise helps, but I don't think it is helping me.
Can we talk about Exercise.: Everyone says... - Cure Parkinson's
Can we talk about Exercise.
TheresaCurley
All I can say is different stokes for different folks.
I can not exercise that much because I am dizzy a lot.
Do what you can, and more will be given.
I have a stationary bike in my living room, along with a shaking board.
I have a three wheel bike that I now can use with the weather coloing off.
Maybe there is other exercise you enjoy that you can do?
Do you swim, lift weights, do qigong etc.
Keep up the good work, and try different things.
And by all means, keep moving 
All the best to you
Lovingly, Eva G.
have you found out what causes your dizziness im so dizzy and lightheaded i can barely do anything
diane1952
Dizziness can be caused by a number of things.
Medication.
Hypotension.
Stress.
Mine, I believe, I caused by strees, and it is a daily task to stay calm.
Keep the faith.
I believe these is a solution to everthing.
Much love, Eva G
It was a long time, months and months, before I could start really walking and riding my bike again after my diagnosis and getting on meds. When I was able to start actually hiking again I was amazed! I take Carbidopa levodopa 25/100 mg three or four times a day. I also take 10 milligrams of Lexapro a day. This hasn't changed since I got diagnosed three and a half years ago. Be patient with yourself. I found riding my bike much easier than walking for a very long time. It was the one thing I could still do even before I got diagnosed and it seems to help the most with depression and anxiety, although hiking also is wonderful. Don't lose heart. Do what you can do and don't push yourself too much and I'll bet it gets easier and more rewarding. Good luck!
Do you take one tab of 25/100 C/L three or four times a day....or more than one tab?
Yes, one tab 3 or 4 times a day.
Wow, that is so terrific. PD visits people so differently. My son, 54 years old, was DX by a Neuro/movement disorder specialist Jan, 2015 and confirmed with DatScan August, 2015. He was put on 2.5 C/L-dopa 3X daily. Thank you for your answer.
I did not exercise for the first 9 years i had pd but i decided to give crossfit (Google it) a try it was and is a damn hard form of exercise. I have a great coach at crossfit and she so dedicated and i think she is great. I hurt and was in pain a lot when i started but it is well worth the effort. You get out of it what you put in to it. I could barely run 250 meters when i started and now i can run two miles.
I am very gun ho on exercise but it must be something you like and it must push you to do more as time goes on. When i finish my hour of exercise i am laying on the floor gasping for air. I just relax get catch my breath get up and look forward to the my next work out.
Please read this post i think it will give you some insight about me.
healthunlocked.com/parkinso....
I checked out the link to the post. Assuming that is you on the pedestal you look in very good condition, lots of muscle. It's wonderful that you are able to do all that you do.
Thank you i have worked hard the last 19 months and yes that is I.
TheresaCurley,
If you are able to exercise, just do it! It's important to like what you're doing and with PD, it's important to exercise beyond your limit. I have been doing Rock Steady Boxing (RSB) for almost 10 yrs. (diagnosed 13 yrs. ago) and a lot of people can't tell I have PD. One of the things I like about RSB is it's strictly for PwP's so everyone there is going for the same goal, to help slow the progression. And it does help. It's non-contact boxing and we also do other exercises, aerobic and non-aerobic. You can go to this gym and talk to others about how you are feeling, about your meds, etc. and everyone can relate to how you are feeling, just like on this website. It started in Indpls. and I was one of the first dozen and now we have over 200 affiliates in the U.S. and some outside of the U.S. Check out the website: rocksteadyboxing.org Go to About/Testimonials and see my testimonial (Debbie). Also watch some of the videos, especially the one by Leslie Stahl.
Bailey's crossfit would be good too as well as John's fast walking,, but I like RSB because it's strictly for PwP's.
You too sound like you are in very good shape.
I can see your point of view. But for me i enjoy being just another face in the crowd. Every one knows i have pd but we do not talk about it. My work out is a escape from the pd world as well as a good work out.
The reason you are having such a hard time is you have Parkinson's-related fatigue. This is very common and affects up to 60% of PD patients. Things to try: selegiline instead of Azilect. Selegiline is the older version MAO-B inhibitor and has some stimulant properties. Another possibility is Amantadine. Per MJFox foundation: "Amantadine reduces symptoms of fatigue, tremor, and bradykinesia in early Parkinson's disease ".
park_bear
Amantadine also causes dizziness.
Maybe selegiline a better choice.
Thank you
Amantadine aggravated my dry mouth problem - so for you and me selegiline a better choice. However, every person is different, so there are people out there for whom the reverse is true.
park_bear
I checked on Amazon.
Does selegiline go by any other name?
Thanks
It's a prescription drug so not surprised it's missing from Amazon.
Have you tried a Wii Fit? I've found it very helpful. I can't do 'formal' exercise at the gym or fast walking anymore- used to be able to but now i go into hyperhydrosis ( massively excessive sweating - so unfeminine!) at the slightest exertion and get so breathless I can' t talk. Tried working with a personal trainer at the gym but can only manage seconds on the first couple of machines then my legs turn to jelly and i collapse. He didn't have the faintest idea of the mechanism behind PD so was at a loss to know how to help.
Because in PD the brain's signals to muscles are no longer efficient, for many people trying to push yourself past your limit is going to achieve at best nothing but exhaustion and at worst cause even more damage. One of my first symptoms was acute pain if I ever used a muscle repetitively . The neurologist explained that normally signals from the brain to other parts of the body look like this ________________________ but in Parkinsons the dopamine- deprived brain struggles to produce the output signal, which consequently looks like this - - - - - - - - and as the disease advances it gets even more broken up. (You can feel it in the cogwheel resistance if you try to move the relaxed wrist of a PWP up and down.)
Not surprising then that some of us have difficulty exercising. I suppose it depends on which areas the signals are weakest to. After 13 years with PD I have great difficulty doing any repetitive movement with my legs and arms however slight - e.g. reaching up for something on a high shelf is ok the first time, painful the second and almost impossible the third. Think of trying to lift an impossibly heavy suitcase - your arm would stiffen, shake and ultimately hurt with the effort; that's the exact feeling I - and I suspect many others - get when trying either to repeat a movement, or ironically, hold a pose for more than a couple of seconds. Going up just a few stairs turns my legs muscles to painful jelly and leaves me gasping like a stranded fish.
However,I am fortunate in that I haven't (yet!) got the Parkinsons mask and, apart from in my most severe 'offs' my voice isn't affected. It seems to me that the signals to the muscles in my limbs are weaker and more broken than the signals to the muscles controlling facial expression or voice production. It will be different in everyone. Even though I still exercise the muscles required for voice production (singing exercises and playing the clarinet) it is becoming weaker- all we can hope is to slow our inevitable decline in 'brain power' by trying to keep the body in the best condition possible - which involves listening to it and, unlike other people without PD, not being tempted to push it further than it wants to go..
This is where the Wii fit comes in so useful. It allows you to choose what type and level of exercise you want and, if necessary, you can do it in ten second (or shorter!) bursts with rests in between. So you can give your brain time to recover and build up a bit more dopamine rather than trying to force it to run on empty. Allowing brain recovery time means that the scant amount of dopamine is never completely used up and the brain has time to re-group what dopamine it has for your next little burst of activity. So cumulatively you get more time to exercise your muscles than if you pushed yourself to the limit in one stretch - which leads to complete mental and physical exhaustion and worsening of symptoms - so you are actually doing much more exercise with your muscles than by going at it flat out and pushing over the pain limit.
A few years ago Parkinsons UK (I think) did some research and found that PWP generally benefited significantly from using the Wii Fit. As well as being able to stop and start as you need to, it has lots of different activities and they are all enjoyable - not an onerous slog. There is a muscle workout section (not tried that); an aerobic section (5 second bursts for me!); a Yoga section which also shows you your centre of balance (very helpful); and a balance section which is absolutely brilliant - the activities are all fun and short so you don't get bored.
I've been meaning to get one for years - you need a box /CD player that plugs into the TV, two handheld controllers and a board, plus connecting cables and the CD with the activities on. I bought the whole lot on line for £55. (and a grandchild willing to set it up is pretty useful too!)
laglag
I just ordered Wii Fit from Walmart.
Thank you
Hi 12stargate. @Pen1 recommended the Wii Fit but I highly recommend it also, especially if you can't get out much. It can be a lot of fun and challenging. There are also activities on there that work on your balance. Let us know how you like it!
My Grandkids have one in their house. I think Santa brought it last year. I think it's a really good idea. I'll give it a thought but I'm saving for something very special right now, so it will have to wait until that's accomplished.
I was diagnosed about 4 years ago. I walk hills, 3 miles per hour, every other day and every other day I work out in the gym and walk a mile. I'm on no drugs and truly believe walking has slowed my progression and keeps me off drugs
Please walk!
I used to walk several miles a day also and I'll find a half-mile is tiring. So I do some yoga, tai chi, and exercise DVD specifically for PD. You can find a whole bunch of them on Amazon and I try to vary my workouts
In the last decade the prevailing view on Exercise and PD has completely reversed itself. It used to be that PD patients should avoid over exerting themselves. That has changed to a very strong suspicion that exercise is probably THE most powerful medicine you can employ in your fight to slow PD progression.
It is likely (that when we find the true roots of this disease) that it has something to do with a break down is the cleaning processes of cells (particularly in the brain) ... some kind of failure to remove old and /or excessive quantities of proteins (like alpha-synuclein and tau etc), which then accumulate and become toxic to dopamine producing neurons et al.
I therefore suspect that exercise plays a role in partially supplementing these defective trash removal system(s) by increasing blood flow or some other mechanism (such as an increase of something else).
The catch is that you need CARDIO-VASCULAR exercise which induces high pulse rates, heavy breathing and considerable sweating. So you would need to switch walking for running, for example.
My own experience (approximately 8 years into the PD thing) is that I don't do that well with either walking or running ... but I get along fine with doubles tennis (3x per week), cycling on a mountain bike, and swimming laps. I usually leave the tennis court drenched in sweat and utterly exhausted, and recovery takes a while .. but it comes.
My overall view on PD and exercise is ... "Take as much as you can possibly stand"
I love your post sterlingin, John Pepper should weigh in here as well as he is a marvel. I run/walk (my pace is directed at keeping my heart rate high enough to stay in a cardio zone as much as possible as long as possible). I recommend a FitBit HR for this. Like others, I am literally drenched in sweat. I go at least an hour but often a little more each and every morning - early to avoid heat. On top of that i do yoga and fit in exercise class as possble 2 or 3 x week. I see exercise as critically important in all regards.
You are spot on. I think the problem in today's world most people have lead a mostly sedentary life style and have lost muscle mass as they age. I believe one thing that helped me is i did manual labor for 30 years. It was good money and i was fit as a horse. Then i changed jobs to one that was 50 50 office vs field work on construction jobs. So when i started Crossfit i still had most of my muscle mass.
So i just got stronger faster than most people.
I agree with everyone that exercise is very important and I hope, Theresa, that you will persevere until you are able to walk farther. It takes a while to improve stamina and to make it a habit. I have spent the last 4 weeks recovering from two cataract surgeries--after each one I was to not do anything other than no to low impact for two weeks. I have really missed my pedal4parkinson class, my tai chi class (its warm ups require a lot of bending, touching toes etc), and RockSteadyBoxing. I have gone up and down stairs a lot and used my stationary bike at a low speed during the second week of each recovery. I have been worried that symptoms would appear but so far I am fine. I have used my hand strengthener and a knitting project to relieve stress. Spending more time in the grocery store walking quickly up and down all the aisles has helped too :).
My theracycle gives me a terrific workout as I cannot walk very well and my balance is compromised. It is expensive but well worth it.
Mine help me get back on my feet
rustjudge
Thank you to everyone for your inut.
I just purchased a Wii Fit as it is difficult for me to get out and walk and run because of dissiness.
I look forward to get started!
Love to everyone, Eva G
My mom cant stand without major support from another person , so I guess she cant use a wi fit 
On Amazon you can find books for PD exercise routines that are executed while seated in a chair. If you cannot find one then email me for help at Bruce@ClubPD.com
A major component of my exercise sessions is the recumbent elliptical, NuStep. In addition, daily stretches, light weights and balance exercises complete the program.
Exercise sessions are scheduled twice daily. Also, throughout the day, after a period of sitting or relative immobility, I do a NuStep brief, rhythmic "work out".
Walking with the Nordic poles is another form of exercise that is beneficial. However, weather conditions and terrain often preclude consistent commitment.
The NuStep is consistently available as an exercise option. I admit to ambivalence in considering purchase several years ago predicated on the cost, i.e., 5,000.00. However, as one committed to exercise for more than half a century, it became necessary to explore equipment to replace my treadmill (balance deficits) and stationary bike (lumbar back issues).
The NuStep machine is indispensable for maintaining strength, mobility and cardio efficacy.
Theresa, I completely identify with your problem. Between dragging my right leg and lower back pain,,walking is pretty difficult. I'd like to know how people cope with a dragging leg. I would so much like to be able to walk a half mile. I know this is the best therapy for parkinsons, but how does one accomplish this? Also, the heat of summer make outdoor exercise difficult.
Are you getting enough levodopa? Agree exercise is very tedious when dragging a leg.
I don't know. That could very well be my problem. I see the Neurologist in 2 months.
Hi THeresaCurley. Have you been tested for aany other cndition, maybe to do ith yur heart of respiratory system?
John
John thank you for your concern. I get a complete check up by a Heart specialist every year. I have a mitral valve that regurgitates and if my blood pressure goes up the blood backs up into my lungs and I have trouble breathing. Not a nice feeling! I can tell when that is happening and I just have to rest to get the blood flow down to normal. However, that is not what is happening on these walks. What is happening is my legs feel like weak rubber bands and I loose my balance a bit and feel very fatigued. I am not out of breath.
I've been doing aerobics my whole life and in spite of having a mitral valve that just doesn't fit right (I was born with it), my heart is in very good shape. I have gone for long walks (not runs -- can't do that) every day all my life, until recently. I think I've been keeping the symptoms of the Parkinson's subdued for a long time. I also take a Beta Blocker for my heart and that is a medication that can mask the Parkinson's. I find it very disappointing to not be able to do it any longer and sincerely hope that now that I'm on medication I can get back to doing those walks again.
Hi. I'm out of my depth on thisone, having no experience at all dealing with sucha situation.
Have you thought of not walking every day, but rather every second day?
John
Same for me. Balance is so bad.
How about chair yoga? Theres exercise sitting in a chair.
Also,the low blood pressure makes it scary. I don't have a clue when its6gonna hit me and I might go down.
Exercise and PD
Exercise and Azilect
Can you do too much exercise and use up your dopamine?
