"Fatigue is one of the most common symptoms experienced by people with Parkinson’s. Various studies have indicated that at least 50% of people with Parkinson’s are affected by fatigue, and it is frequently one of the most disabling symptoms."
I have visited the National Art Gallery in Ottawa several times and one painting that I really enjoy is "Voice of Fire", painted by Barnett Newman. It was acquired by the Gallery for 1.8 million dollars. A red stripe and 2 blue stripes. I know, I know. Anybody could do the same for a lot less than the 1.8 million dollars it cost. But isn't it beguiling. I mean what was Newman thinking when he painted this? What is its meaning?
Not very impressive, is it? But wait until you see it housed at the end of a gallery that looks to have been built specifically for it. The "painting" rises 18 feet (8 feet wide) and seems to burst out of the floor. It is interesting, but I don't know why I like it....I just do and frankly, I don't care why. Some questions don't have answers..
I was reminded of the "Voice of Fire" while on my early morning walk on the beach a couple of days ago. On the horizon was the top 1/4 of the round orange ball of the sun. As I watched, over a period of 10 or so minutes, more and more of the ball escaped the lake until it exploded out of the water in all its orange perfectness. It was amazing and I wondered if the same mechanism as is active in Barnett Newman's painting evoked the same awe in me.....well, to a point anyway. Let's not get carried away.
But this little essay has little to do with paintings or sunrises, it has to do with fatigue. Exhaustion, to be precise. Nobody can give me a realistic interpretation of Voice of Fire and nor can they adequately describe the sunrise I saw. I challenge you to define "exhaustion" so that a listener gets a feel for its reality.
About 50% of PD victims suffer "exhaustion" to the nth degree or as I wrote earlier, it is exhaustion at a cellular level.
Doctors often describe more than one type of fatigue in Parkinson’s:
- muscle or Peripheral fatigue - the loss of strength with repeated muscle contraction or activity. This type of fatigue is frequently reported as a sense of weakness, and probably earned the disease its original name “paralysis agitans” (‘paralysis’ referring to weakness and ‘agitans’ referring to the associated Tremor). Muscle fatigue is usually called ‘peripheral fatigue’ by specialists and some studies have shown that people with Parkinson’s who experience it noticed an improvement when taking levodopa or other dopaminergic medications
- central fatigue - this involves an inability to cope with physical and mental tasks which require self motivation. This type of fatigue does not seem to respond as well to levodopa and dopaminergic medications as peripheral fatigue
- mental fatigue – a difficulty in initiating and sustaining mental tasks of any type
- physical fatigue – a difficulty in carrying out physical activities.
Oddly, I don't fit into any of those categories and yet I wake up tired. Fatigue is my Anti-Tonto, constantly at my side, but no kemo sabe to me. My wife thinks I work too much and should retire completely. And I would except, I might go crazy with nothing to do. I would end up watching TV all day.
I can't quit. I would rather die from exhaustion than from boredom. So I will keep working and filling the little spare time I have with paintings and sunrises until I fall into one of those cateqories and get too tired to enjoy wasting the time I have left.
Am I already wasting time with this blog in a vain attempt to explain my situation?
Do popes poop in the woods? I think not.
block quote are from European Parkinson's Disease Association
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