need for water. are we all dehydrat... - Cure Parkinson's
need for water. are we all dehydrated ? very interesting
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Do you ever feel thirsty? Many people with Parkinson's don't. Dehydration is a huge issue and results in many hospital Admissions. Some choose to drink very little because of bladder urgency and nocturnal.
Hi parkie. This is the most interesting article I have read for ages.
It is interesting because I have not drunk tea for more than 40 years, because it makes me feel bilious. I have not drunk coffee for 23 years, because I found that my tremors were much less when I stopped and have not gone back to drinking coffee ever since.
I have only drunk water since then, except that I drink a glass of wine each night now, since I met my new wife, Jeannette. Let me say straight away that Jeannette was not the cause of me starting to drink a glass of red wine every day. I felt that we needed to have some sort of routine that would help us to sit down and get to know each other better and in a more relaxed mood. I hope I should not give up drinking wine every day!
At the age of 82, I am very active, having spent 7 months over the last 18 months, touring overseas in Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, England and Holland, talking to groups of people with Pd and showing them how to walk properly, immediately. They are able to do this because they learn how to use their conscious brain to control their walking, instead of their subconscious brain. We all learned to walk without having to consciously think about what our legs and arms are doing, when we were young. Pd can affect everything we do subconsciously, and I have been able to overcome my shuffling by concentrating on my leg and arm movements. I have been able to stop shaking when I am bringing food and drink to my mouth and I have learned how to write properly since 1968. Those are just a few of the symptoms I have been able to overcome.
People think that I don't have Pd because they cannot see any signs of Pd any longer. I do still have Pd, as proved by my last visit to my neurologist in January 2015.
I spend most of my time talking, writing and speaking to Pd patients and their care-givers, all over the world. I cannot rest until everybody knows that there are lots of things we Pd patients can do to overcome some of the symptoms of Pd and start to live a normal life again. This does not sit well with Neurologists, because it has not been done before and it is not in their training.
My symptoms started in 1963. In 1992 I had to give up my job, running a large company, which my late wife and I founded in 1963, the year my first symptom appeared.
I am busy planning more talks in the UK and the USA this year, for 4 months. Yes, at the age of 82 I am going to do a tour from the 5th May to the end of August. We will be living out of 1 small suitcase each for 4 months.
Are there any Pd patients out there who would like to learn all about tackling Pd in a different way?
By the way, I have not needed to take any Pd medication since 2002. In fact, I have not taken any other type of medication since I met Jeannette in 2012.
Hi Parkie--I'd like to learn all about tackling PD in a different way. How can I do this? Jim
Hi Jim. How are you dealing with your Pd at present? Are you totally dependent upon medication or are you doing any serious exercise?
Lots of exercise, averaging an hour a day, 5-6 days a week. I take a slew of prescription meds, including carbidopa-levodopa, entacapone, and Gabapentin. These days, going beyond four hours without carbidopa-levodopa leaves me shaking, weak, tired and feeling ill.
Hi Jim. May I ask you some interesting questions? How old are you? How long have you been doing the one hour of exercise every day?
I am asking this because I was doing 60 minutes in the gym every day, 6 days a week, from 1968 up to the time I was diagnosed in 1992. Then I increased that to 90 minutes a day and guess what? My symptoms got worse quicker than they had before diagnosis. So in 1994, I stopped going to the gym and took up FAST WALKING. I have been doing that ever since then and my Pd symptoms started to get better. I was able to come off Pd meds in 2002 and have never had to go back onto them.
Here is some interesting information on the walking. Even though I had been doing walking on the treadmill for 20 minutes every day since 1968 the instructor would not let me walk for more than 20 minutes to begin with. She then allowed me to increase that by 5 minutes every second week until I reached one hour. Then I stuck at one hour and am still doing one hour.
Here comes the interesting thing. She told me that my muscles need ONE DAY to recover from strenuous exercise. If we don't allow them to recover they eat themselves up in order to get the energy they need to do the work. There is a name for that!
When we walk as fast as we are able, I am led to believe that our brains produce a protein called GDNF (Glial Derived Neurotrophic Factor) Glial cells are the cells damaged by Pd and neurotrophic means repair or build. So this GDNF repairs those damaged brain cells. Those brain cells produce dopamine and the lack of dopamine is the cause of Pd.
This all makes sense to me because I have been doing the fast walking since 1994 and if I stop the walking my symptoms get worse. I keep up the walking and stay ahead of the Pd, which is still damaging my brain cells and I am still repairing them with the walking.
Give it some thought
Go to my website - reverseparkinsons.net and read more about it.
John, may I contact you via email? I find your post not only inspiring, but challenging.
John
It is disingenuous to say at your last neuro visit you still have Parkinsons when the neuro also specifically told you, you do not have idipothic Parkinsons which all people diagnosed with PD on here would have. That is why nobody else has done what you have done - they have a different movement disorder to you.