I'm Joy, a newbie!

[joytheteach]

My user name says it all: I was a teacher. PD came as a big shock. Strange how many PWP were teachers? Now I don't do the 8-late working day, I enjoy singing and am thinking about getting another 4 legged friend.

[Hidden]

Welcome! Yes, get ANOTHER 4 legged friend. They are good therapy; I have six cats and my wife has one Rat Terrier. All bring great joy to our family. Well, not all, there is one cat my wife hates. This cat was a mistake. When I was at the vets office a woman came in with this orange feral kitten. She wanted to find it a home. Yes, on my way home I said to myself, why did you do that, when you already have too many cats.

This kitten, now an adult, often pukes its food up and also another pain. After it has done its stinky business in the litter box it tries to cover over the mess by scratching the side of the box and not the sand. All these years it has not figured this one chore out.

[rhyspeace12 in reply to Hidden]

I suppose some cats can be less smart than others. I have one cat that was feral, now 16, and runs like crazy if i try to pick her up, but sleeps next to me like a tumor at night. We just got two Siamese kittens from a shelter, and they are wonderful.They can be so relaxing, though they have already pulled over a fake Christmas tree.

[Hidden in reply to rhyspeace12]

We no longer use fake Christmas tree after a cat died from eating the fake pine needles.

[rhyspeace12 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for letting me know that. We have decided to put no Christmas tree up.

[rhyspeace12]

It would be interesting to know if Parkinson's people are of any certain "type" such as you being a teacher. My husband with the PD is a civil engineer.

[JohnPepper]

Hi Joy. You are faced with the choice of going the medication route to deal with your Pd or the exercise route. There is no Pd medication that affects the progression of Pd. Pd medication is designed to temporarily mask some of the Pd symptoms but does nothing to slow down the progression or stop the symptoms from getting worse.

Exercise on the other hand has been proven to have beneficial effects on symptoms.

I was diagnosed in 1992 with Pd. I took Sinemet and Symmetrel for the first two years, together with going to a gym for 90 minutes a day, six days of the week. My condition got progressively worse.

After two years, my doctor took me off those medications and put me onto Eldepryl, an MAO-b inhibitor. Instead of putting levodopa into the brain, which turns it into dopamine, the MAO-b inhibitors help you to keep the dopamine you already have in your brain, instead of creating dopamine from levodopa, which has many serious side effects.

I also stopped going to the gym and started doing fast walking. within 4 years, my symptoms had started to improve and I was feeling a lot better. In 2002 I came off the medication and have continued to stay off the medication since then.

At the age of 82, I now continue to live a normal life, medication free, and am very active.

To read more about my story, you can go to my website - reverseparkinsons.net.

[jrg54321 in reply to JohnPepper]

John, what do you think about this post? healthunlocked.com/parkinso...

My doctor mentioned levidopa/carbidopa to discuss at my next visit in six months. If it doesn't cause dyskinesia, and I am still exercising as much as before, why not?

[JohnPepper in reply to jrg54321]

Hi jrg. My first response to the article is "A load of nonsense". Sinemet does absolutely nothing to slow down the progression of Pd, therefore, why take it if you are not absolutely desperate with tremors or rigidity? Dyskinesia only shows its ugly face when you begin to take too much levodopa. You start with X no of tablets to give relief to a symptom, and get around 3 hours relief, after taking each tablet. Then within a while you have to take more tablets, because they only give relief for maybe 2 hours and then it is 1 and a half hours and very soon you are taking so many that the dyskinesias start. Where do you go from there?

[R8360V]

HI, WELCOME TO THE GROUP, IN A GOOD SENSE, NOT THAT I WELCOME YOU HAVING PD. HOPE YOU ARE DOING FINE, YOU WILL HAVE MANY FRIENDS HERE WHO SOMETIMES CAN HELP YOU OUT, I AGREE WE HAVE TO TALK TO SOMEONE SOMETIMES, ITS GOOD TO INTERACT WITH OTHERS.

AGAIN WELCOME.

[kommandokate]

Welcome to the Parky Family! Lots to learn. This is a wonderful blog. Informative and friendly folks! Stay busy and blessed and EXERCISE!!

[Sleeplessparki]

Welcome joytheteacher I was the class of 2010. I can't think of a better way of taking your mind off PD than by getting a four legged friend.

[Hidden]

There is an organization that has reported for many years in Canada the average length of life by profession.( I will try an find their name) United Church ministers held number one spot many years in a row but no one ever explained why that I am aware of. It was argued that many United Church ministers might be from the same genetic stock (Scottish I guess) . The worst was Barber and Dentist. The last report I saw said Teacher was longest lived and Dentist was still at the bottom with Financial Advisors. Professional athletes do not live longer, they are very near the bottom (perhaps concussions and steroids). Welder is the only job that I know of high in PD and it has its own type of PD.

[healthabc]

i was a teacher. My local friend w pd was a teacher too. hmm....

[Pelley in reply to healthabc]

damn chalk dust! Be careful trying to blame everything on your PD inversely blaming things for your PD. Too much of that goes on. It is what it is. Our job is not to agree with it, but accept it. Make lemonade!

[Carolinagirl123]

I was a special education teacher and can't even imagine stepping foot in a classroom again!

[Beckey]

My mom had PD (actually Lewy Bodies Dementia) and she was a teacher, a wonderful teacher. I have some of the gifts her students made for her, a quilt, a wall-hanging, other things. Very sweet.

[Burlingtongal]

Welcome! I'm new to PD, as well. I'm enjoying this forum a lot. 4 legged friends make life better.