Hi everyone. I just wanted to share my experience of combining a severe flu with my Parkinson's symptoms. I've had Parkinson's for six years and I'm generally doing relatively well. But recently, I caught a severe flu while traveling in Italy with my wife and it made my symptoms much worse, with massive tremors and impaired motor capabilities. It also made it impossible for me to continue with my daily exercise routine. Thankfully, as I now recover from the flu, my symptoms are slowly returning to normal and I am progressively restarting my exercise routine.
This experience however made me realise several important things:
- we are far more vulnerable to relatively harmless medical conditions like the flu than someone who doesn't have our condition,
- I was fortunate to have my wife to help me and I can't begin to imagine how it would've been if I had been alone,
- I had a flu jab at the end of last year but it didn't help. Still, I intend to get vaccinated again next year, hoping for better results.
- I had stopped using masks but I'm considering wearing them again, especially when travelling.
Written by
Michel0220
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Glad you are on the mend and you had your wife with you. I had a similar experience with Covid. It really set me back. I've been doing relatively well with Parkinson's for the last six years but this last experience with Covid really did a number.
Michel, I am glad you have returned to your pro-flu mild symptoms. My hubby and I never had the flu vaccine, however, he had more than enough vaccination in the Military to last him for the rest of his remainder years. He stopped all vaccinations in 1994 and has never had the flu or COVID. I never had any vaccination other than the "baby" ones.
I don't mean to frighten you, but my mom (passed away at 90 in 2015) had never had any kind of vaccination. When at 87 her doctor pressed her to have the flu vaccine, she did. That vaccine caused her demise and passed away as a result. After losing my mom to flu vaccine, I refuse to hear any "suggestions" or "encouragement" to have ANY KIND OF VACCINATION. Scientists are preparing and testing a new vaccine for Infection X--they haven't found a name for it yet. . . there will be a lot of "Pandemics" and vaccines. . . We won't be able to travel unless we present a "VACCINE PASSPORT."
I have never stopped wearing masks. I just feel better having one on whenever I go out in public, which these days is usually to the grocery store or physical therapy. I don’t wear them around family and my close friend group. I don’t care if I’m the only one wearing them, which is sometimes the case.
I completely concur and I am so glad my husband has not had covid or the flu and we always wear masks in public and don't care what anybody thinks because staying well is essential. When you see so many people who have had lingering problems after having covid you know you want no part of it.
I found similar with covid 2 year ago. Though I'm not giving my life over to masks. Also a recent severe cold weather spell made me worse when outside.
It makes you realize that you are more vulnerable. But maybe I'm an exception, because I feel best when I travel and go on hikes alone. Not wise, I know. My biggest inspiration for a more secluded and stress-free life is Mark Hogben, whom I have been following since last autumn. He lives off the grid under very harsh conditions near Quebec and shares his daily videos with the world, now with millions of viewers. He has a complete acceptance of his Parkinson's! Strangely enough, I haven't come across him here yet, but for me he is an icon!
I so agree that living a "stress free" way of life makes a big difference with my PD symptoms. I have also watched Mark Hogben videos. He is truly an inspiration of what can be accomplished, even with a PD diagnosis. I make a daily effort to avoid situations and people that bring stress to my life
Glad you are getting back to your new, old self and your exercise routine. Thanks for the reminder we should get flu jabs, even if they don't match up great with that year's flu strain- It's not always a mismatch and I believe worth the effort.
hope you are recovered now Michel. I often feel a sudden unexplained worsening of symptoms and then next day or so realise I was coming down with something
So strange. I was extremely sick with flu in January of 2022 (absolutely the worst flu I've ever had, but not covid) and January of 2023. Both times my PD symptoms became so mild that I didn't take meds for 6 days and 4 days, respectively. I take mucuna instead of CL, and I normally take 1-2 doses/day.
Hi MichelSame here. I had a relatively mild Covid infection last year, and my Parkinson symptoms went crazy. Same as you I was eternally grateful to have my wife with me. The symptoms went back to normal eventuall. y
I know a lot of people have zero faith in homeopathic remedies, but I would like to mention one that I have had very good luck with when taken at the very first sign of the cold or flu.
It is called Oscillococcinum and it doesn't seem to work for everyone, but nothing does when it comes to the cold and flu, including the flu vaccine, but it does seem to work for the greater majority of people including myself and quite a few friends. Here is a link to the product and hopefully it is available where you are :
Read some of the over 26,000 reviews to get an idea of how it works for many people. I keep it on hand for family and friends and I never hesitate to use it at the first sign of cold or flu. I can't be without it now and my friends who have tried it feel the same. None of us have experienced any side effects, just a much much shorter and milder disease course.
Very good to know as I was not aware of this added benefit. Recently I read two human studies where Oscillococcinum also helped people with COPD to help significantly reduce the number of upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) during the flu season, better than the flu vaccine alone. Less URTIs seems like a very useful thing to have, at least to me it does.
thanks for sharing Michel. I am so glad you are on the mend. I have avoided Covid for all these years but travelled once 2 months ago, and caught a wicked flu. Although my motor systems were definitely affected, the worst part was this dark cloud that flattened me for weeks after. I have never felt so down and depressed which truly was worse than anything
Hi Missy. Yes, I didn't mention that but the impact was not only physical but also mental. I feel I went through several very dark weeks. Having someone with you to support you is really critical.
Glad to hear you are on the mend. My brother in law gets worse when he catches anything. Even the smallest of colds he seems set back for weeks physically and mentally. You don’t realize that what may seem to go away in a few days for most people could cause so much more havoc for anyone with PD.
Ordinary Masks do not work unless you have a NHS N95, even then you and others have to put and take it off in a certain manner and dispose of it under the previous rules.
They also do not protect you from inhaling germs, the basic ones are merely to stop the wearer from passing on mucus and saliva, which is why they are worn by dentists and nurses to protect their patients
Viruses are not living beings. Instead they're collections of chemicals that can enter cells and subvert normal DNA function. The cell then makes copies of the chemicals and a "virus" spreads. They tend to have a sticky coating. This makes it easier for the virus to attach to the mucous membranes before entering cells and taking over the DNA. Technically a virus floats in the air so if you sneeze on someone you've spread the virus. But not from the sneeze. The sneeze hits skin on your hand and when you touch anything, you've deposited virus. For virus to cause disease it has to be a large amount. Not what you inhale but what lands on your hand. Every sneeze adds more virus to the skin. A mask keeps you from spreading virus because it's contained in the fabric. But when you take the mask off you've spread it to your fingers and anything your fingers then touch spreads the virus.
As far as I've read, NHS masks wearing, was to protect nurses, Docs etc from any blood spoilage.Id say 99% of people who wear/ wore masks or the laughable face covering, never followed or even knew the rules on how to wear it.
Thanks for sharing this important warning! Hubby (and I) got a bad cold a year and a half ago, and because he was 16 years into PD at the time, he could not move hardly at all, was delirious, and couldn’t eat. So he was hospitalized for a week and a half for just a bad cold!
We now are very careful during cold and flu season, limit travel and mass gatherings, and get the flu jab. If I catch a bug, I wear an N95 mask around him and sleep in the other room.
Glad you’re feeling better, and be careful everyone!
Pleased to hear that you are recovering and thank you for sharing.
At diagnosis most of us are told that PD is a disease that usually progresses slowly and whilst you should plan to do all things you want to do in the early years, even so you should have time at your disposal. Particularly if you religiously adopt all the things that you hope will slow progression or at the very least improve your QOL; exercise, diet, mindfulness, socialisation etc. etc (much of this you have learned via NSB4PD thanks to Michel and Mark!).
Then suddenly, something like an infection, chronic or acute pain, extreme stress or surgery (or a myriad of other things) can cause a rapid and severe deterioration in your symptoms. It has happened to me and I have found it quite frightening. It really brings it home what the reality of having been diagnosed with PD really means.
Absolutely. I believe that it is (in most cases?) possible to revert to the situation as it was before the infection/virus/flu but it requires resilience and determination. As the condition progresses it likely gets more complicated.
It just seems logical to me that the reserves a person has that help them fight an infection may not be quite as strong when a person has Parkinson's. That said we have had friends who do not have Parkinson's who have had dreadful cases of respiratory infections and the flu in the last few weeks. It seems like there are some particularly bad strains circulating and the people we know had been vaccinated against the flu, covid, and pneumonia.
In my 20 odd years as a physician in acute medicine I always remember how the older patients with Parkinsons were dreadfully ill when they had an infection. The nurses used to call them affectionately "sweet little crumble".
But 3 days later with a little fluid, they would transform into wise old men , a tad shaky on the feet. Another week in the rehab ward and off they would go. Next visit to Outpatients follow up in geriatric clinic you would not recognise the dapper old man in his suit as the sweet little crumble.
My biggest frustration used to be the delay in finding a "patch" to be supplied from pharmacy as their swallowing got worse too. We all know what missing medicines can do.
When I look back at that time I hope I was kind enough to them
I am very sorry for this. The only good news is that you will hopefully be able to revert back to your symptoms as they were before the flu once you have recovered (this was the case for me). In the meantime I wish you all the best.
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