Does anyone share my problem of uncontrolled running? Walking the dog in the morning and find my steps get shorter and shorter and then I'm running, upper body tipped forward and at the worst of it my arms flailing trying to keep myself upright. Of course I've done a couple of falls forward and lost a bit of skin but can usually find a fence or something to stop myself on.
I've tried spinning around and so that I'm walking backwards, that works if I do it early enough before I'm going too fast, and when I'm walking I concentrate hard on trying to get shoulder blades together to straighten my back, also take steps heel first, but seem to be only able to deal with one correction at a time. I'm unfortunately someone who has low response to levadopa.
Would be interested to hear if other people have this symptom and how they deal with the opposite of freezing.
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grower
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Four years ago I had exactly that symptom while in a marathon. I blew it off to age. Less than a year later I was diagnosed with MS and another year later diagnosed with PD. I switched to treadmill running/walking just because the side rails on the treadmill gave me something to support myself with if I felt that forward-fall happening. When I'm tired the forward lean is bad enough that I have to grab something to keep from falling. Also, in training for the marathon I used a half-mile asphalt path and found I had an incredible urge to walk backwards while going up the uphill portion of the path. The neuro referred me to a motion specialist who used the 'big and wide' method to teach me to forcefully widen my steps and walking pace. I take Rytary three times a day. That seems to help the forward-lean problem.
You have to learn how to consciously take control of each step! When you are concentrating on your movement and not on the dog you will be able to control how your heel lands, how you push forwards, at maximum speed and place the othe heel firmly on the ground.
Sounds like it could be Festination. A symptom of Parkinson's. I had this for a while, but then it stopped and never came back. Could be the B1 therapy I started, the exercise, etc. I don't know. But it was pretty scary as I couldn't stop myself.
Very encouraging to hear that it went away, I'm thinking of trying the B1 but from what I've read it's not nearly as effective to take it orally and I can't find an option of intravenous.
Ye, I have it and my PD doc calls it festination. She is a bit dismissive in not thinking it to be necessarily a constituent symptom of PD but she says nothing can be done about it.
Except possibly stop running! Stand still and take a deep breath! I agree, i's not easy. I suspect it might be something to do with not enough exercise to the forward muscles at the top of the kegs? To me they feel week?
oh grower, sorry to read this. I have no answer for you but I recall early in my ‘PD career’ i saw a man running backwards so i knew it was a symptom. I have just realized that is probably what happens to me when i pull weeds in the garden. I can’t stop myself running… i wonder if it happens when you havent got a dog pulling on the lead? Perhaps thats enough to tip your balance.
Thanks for your reply Hikoi, nice to know you're there. My wife has control of the dog when we walk, it's all I can do to concentrate to stop myself from starting to run. I don't seem to have the problem during the day doing orchard work at all, just a general parkinsons odd type bouncy gait. I think my brain is playing tricks with me. Last winter at least I could still ski though so shouldn't complain.
Yes. It's called festination and I have it from time to time. There is not much you can do about it. I noticed that when I increased the amount of ldopa I was more prone to having these. When I reduce L-Dopa to improve my controlabity but Ioose the strength. You can use the special walker with the normally applied brakes. Also pt can teach you to step with the heel and that allows you to better control your speed
I experienced a bad fall recently when I bounced off the wall trying to stop.
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Not enough dopamine for Dystonia vs. too much dopamine creating fatigue and daytime sleepiness.
