I still manage to work as a postman walking up to 50miles a week. I cycle and do fell walking where possible. However my condition has suddenly got worse and it has been suggested that I could be doing too much.
Can you use up what little dopamine there is remaining or is it best to do more exercise to generate dopamine. Anyone got any thoughts on this?
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gingerj
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I have recently experienced an improvement in my exercise tolerance which I attribute to taking celery seed extract. See: healthunlocked.com/parkinso...
I'm 14 years post diagnosis, and still walk 5 miles per day at 4 mph most days, but I don't beat myself up if I don't make the target. Subjectively, I get the feeling that walking generates dopamine: I can be at a meeting and be very stiff, only to find myself become much more flexible within a few minutes of starting to walk home.
The underlying cause of PD does not change quickly. So any sudden changes in symptoms are, in my view likely to be due to something else, e.g.:
- other illnesses;
- our bodies' ability to absorb levodopa; there's been some interesting research recently into the effect of bacteria in the gut on the absorption of levodopa.
- that your symptoms are "non-linear", e.g. the time it takes to walk a mile is roughly speaking a linear measure, you would expect some variation from day to day on top of a slow increase caused by the gradual progression of PD. But, in contrast, if you measure the number of days in a week that you walk a mile in less than 15 minutes, say, you'll find either no change or have a few much bigger changes as you go down from 7 to 6, etc..
Ginge. Can’t seem to work out how to lift and drop the url for a previous post into a message but if you search for ‘exercise conundrum’ using the magnifying glass you should find my post which was very well responded to👍
I am not sure if it does but I have noticed that the more I do physically, the less I notice the symptoms. As soon as it down to rest, the tremors start back and it seems like I exert more energy deadly with the tremors than I did doing physical labor.
You can definitely exercise to the point of overwhelming stress. Remember, any activity, good or bad, is considered stress by the body.. The clue is to exercise sufficiently to the point where it is beneficial and not to the degree where it is destructive...say, negatively impacting your immune system.
ginger, I was a runner before PD and mine started with dystonia where things locked up at times , where I couldn’t walk let alone run. So the Cd/ld is my saving grace and when I push my body to the max I need a little extra. My dr said that is to be expected with what I do. Exercise whatever capacity is the best for PD, Take care. K
I take extra dopamine before I play tennis. Not sure if the tennis uses it up or if I just get tired and need more. If I don’t take extra I get internally shaky and move very stiffly around the court.
Hi gingerj. Only FAST WALKING produces GDNF, which repairs the damaged Glial cells, which in turn are responsible for producing more dopamine. All exercise uses dopamine and all exercise is good for Pd, but to reverse the symptoms of Pd we have to do the Fast Walking every second day in order to increase the amount of dopamine we produce. That is only my opinion, based on my experience.
Exercise definitely depletes my dopamine. I walk outside or on the treadmill in the mornings. Also take 1/2 extra C/L beforehand or I run out of steam midway and cannot sustain repetitive movement. Even with that, generally have a major off period afterward. In about a half to an hour later, I recover. Definitely overall feel better when I do exercise, so accept as part of my Parkinson’s. Yoga on other hand energizes me and makes me feel more functional. I do both, strive for 6 days a week.
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