A cross in the sand

[Meg024]

Does anyone else find this explanation helpful -- ? Imagine yourself sitting on the beach and you draw a cross in the sand like an 'x'. The first stroke represents your dopamine deficiency and the second stroke you draw several times as it represents an overactive adrenal response subsequent to the HABIT of chronic stress. They intersect like the flow of traffic at a traffic light, not being permitted to flow at the same time. Notice the little ridges of sand on the edges of the strokes.

It appears that a person with PD has no dopamine supply, but it can be stimulated with levadopa, which is a great help. But when there is an abrupt end to the meds, the body goes into stress and manifests dyskinesia which is worsening the original problem. It's a vicious cycle unless you manage it wisely and with understanding.

What are the factors that worsen dyskinesia? Stress, pressure, anger, excitement, lack of sleep, viral infections, and C/L overdose. These are all ADRENAL responses. Therefore, take care to manage your adrenal functions with calming influences in your lifestyle: Deep breathing and stretching exercises, meditation, lie down and rest during dyskinesia, seek peace and pursue it, drink no stimulants, get good sleep, take beta blockers before social gatherings, take adrenal cortex extract after stressful times, take gaba at bedtime to protect against adrenal intrusions in your dreams...

I have often battled to understand what is going on inside my brain and what went wrong. I find this simple cross in the sand a good explanation.

[Gymsack]

QUOTE "It appears that a person with PD has no dopamine supply, but it can be stimulated with levadopa, which is a great help."

a small technicality, I believe that the Levadopa simulates the body produced dopamine and not stimulates.

My neuroligist thinks that I am no longer able to produce any dopamine and I am alive and well existing on yellow pills. I am not sure but I suspect that there are worse things.

Be HAPPY

[LAJ12345 in reply to Gymsack]

how long can you go first thing in the morning before needing the meds? If you can still get around my guess is you are still making a little in the night

[Meg024 in reply to LAJ12345]

I can get around alright until my first dose at 9.30am, so you are right, my body is generating dopamine while I sleep, that is, while I am free from the affliction of adrenalin triggers that interfere with the flow of dopamine.

[LAJ12345 in reply to Meg024]

I think it is the break down of dopamine that produces the noradrenaline. When it breaks down too fast it gives the anxious feeling.

[Mimiclaire22]

thank you, Meg!

[Gymsack]

I am now taking LD/CD at 5 am and starting the day with the first dose at7:30. Missing one of these doses results in inability to get out of bed and cramping of my legs. If I get the meds every 2.5 hrs everything is reasonable and liveable .

Some days you eat bear, some days the bear eats you and slowly you drop any hard feelings for the bear . My ancestors were in this country in the mid to late 1600,s , Pioneers who built log cabins and cut down the forest to make a farm to feed their oxen and 8 or 9 children then built the mill and the church and the road to it, suffering every manner of disease , and deprivation . The information left behind indicates at least two had PD and lived past 75 yrs old. Every one of them lived a very difficult life , a few froze, a few starved, a couple killed by trees that they were falling or gored by the bull that pulled the rock boat clearing the field and a few lived to be older than 90 . All came here to escape starvation and gain freedom and they struggled successfully to the end and I also will not go quietly into that good night .

I dont have their backbone and determination but I try and if you are coming up on 75 you need to get ready too. The fight starts here and everything else is preliminaries . Drag that walker outside, stop complaining , start moving and just keep going. Damn the torpedoes damn the pain. just do it. You can do it

God help us all