Stress? Anxiety?

[DadWithPD]

What is the correlation between stress/anxiety and worsening of PD symptoms like hand tremor? My grandmother has been in the hospital for a few days and there has been a lot of stress. I noticed when my dad gets worked up his hand starts shaking really bad..??

[park_bear]

Stress aggravates Parkinson's symptoms no doubt about it.

[GymBag]

You are very observant and your suspicion is correct. A vicious circle.

Parkinsons creates stress, The inability to do things quickly , especially multi tasking is much reduced and requires a lot of thought and concentration to make various muscles move and stay coordinated and it becomes easily very frustrating and stressful.

Any kind of stress results in an increase in PD symptoms , so that right when you need help the most , your brain throws you under a bus.

Example : hurrying to get to a meeting ,wedding , birthday party ? Then nope you are not going. Take your time and relax and get there when you can , well at least you got there. One word from your spouse that you are late and it is all undone and again you are not going.

NO you will have to go without me, sorry I have to go for an unplanned, out of the blue , very urgent visit to the toilet. I did go 30 minutes ago and here I am back under that bus again, I will never make it to an event with out a great deal of excess time , planning and help and by the time I am ready I am a wreck and exhausted. Most often the fastest way too get there is too sit down and forget about it for a while. Just thought I would give you peek inside Dads head , go easy, he is trying hard not to let you see him shake and it is making him shake. Stop looking so concerned, try to get him to relax. Good luck with that.

[Cons10s in reply to GymBag]

That gave me a good chuckle.

[Richter in reply to GymBag]

Well said!

[Coot18 in reply to GymBag]

It was a PD support group meeting.

Five years after my diagnosis.

Group discussion about falls

120# caregivers trying to pick up 200# PDrs

She was 80+ years old

Diagnosed 50 years ago.

"You just need to slow down,

most falls caused by moving too fast"

At our age we need to accept the fact

If we continue to do something we have always done

It's going to take longer

It's going to hurt more

But we gotta keep doing it

Love > hate

[Coot18 in reply to GymBag]

We try to pursue happiness

We need to slow down,

stop and let happiness

catch up to us

The gift of PD

slowed us down

maybe a good thing

that we can't pursue happiness

as fast as we used to

Love > hate

[meadowlark6581 in reply to GymBag]

GymBag. Thank you! Your description is perfect. Thank you for taking the time to write so eloquently the process and the significant frustrations with layers of stress. Wishing you all the best! ❤️

[Enidah in reply to GymBag]

Thank you Gymbag. What a great description of what we go through!

[DadWithPD in reply to GymBag]

I know I act like I don't notice because the way he is, it hurts his pride. Unfortunately, I'm sure he can see it on my face.

[JohnPepper]

Stress has a serious effect on Parkinson's symptoms and should be avoided wherever possible. You need to read about Pd on my website - reverseparkinsons.net and contact me for any further information.