My hand didn't, I was going to say "start to shake", but that is not quite the right word. "Swing to and fro" is more accurate. It happened at bed time. I was calmly watching the hockey game on TV, lying in bed, killing time until my wife finished her nightly routine. As she does every time there is hockey, she moves to another room until the game finishes. I heard her set the security alarm, as she does nightly, and a few minutes later, the squeal of the alarm filled the house. l nearly filled my pants and my right hand started to tremble. My wife turned off the alarm and came to bed, explaining that after setting the alarm, she wondered if the patio doors were shut and to ease her mind, she pulled them to see if they would open.
Apparently they would.
After re-setting the alarm and explaining to the alarm company what had happened, she got out her ipad to play a game and get settled down. Having survived what would otherwise have been an embarrassing incident, I got up to empty my bladder when the screech of the alarm hit me as soon as I reached the hallway. "What the heck!" I wondered (in much more colorful words I confess). My wife explained that in re-setting the alarm, she had accidentally set the motion detector. My movement had triggered it. I just made it to the bathroom and she turned off the alarm. I was still, by some good fortune, conscious, but the episode had alerted my PD and the meds were no longer a firewall. The second alarm put my right hand in motion. It hung off of my wrist like some malevolent pendulum for a good 3 or 4 minutes, just enough time to convince me I was deteriorating quickly.
I wasn't. My team scored and my hand gave up trying to distract me.
After calming down, I was good and my wife used her charm to apologize to the alarm company and sort of, to me.
Much ado about nothing.
Behold how like a maid she blushes here!
O, what authority and show of truth
Can cunning sin cover itself withal!
Knowing you are big on exercise, thought you would be interested in this recent post: Rejuvenating Mitochondria
ReplyDeleteToday, the most promising research on Parkinson’s is to rejuvenate mitochondria. At this time the only way to increase the size and number of mitochondria is to exercise, and intense exercise does this far more effectively than casual exercise. Exercising to shortness of breath increases mitochondria significantly, and exercise is being used to treat Parkinson’s (JAMA Neurology, January, 2016). The problem is that Parkinson’s disease makes people so uncoordinated that they rarely can exercise at all. Almost none can exercise alone with enough intensity to grow large numbers of new mitochondria. However putting people with Parkinson’s disease on devices that assist their exercise can make up for their inability to control their own muscles. For example, putting the patient on the back of a tandem bicycle allows the person in the front to control balance and push the pedals which forces the person in the back to pedal also. The patient’s feet are clipped to the pedals and the upper body can be secured to the seat and handlebars if needed. Using a tandem tricycle is even safer as three wheels help to prevent falls. In this way, the patient can pedal at a 90 rotations per minute cadence intensity without falling. So far the improvement in muscle control with intense exercise has been remarkable in both humans and animals (Exerc Sport Sci Rev. Oct, 2011;39(4):177-86). This means that a major part of treatment should be to make it possible for patients to exercise intensely without hurting themselves. Motor driven exercise equipment with special restraints to prevent people from falling and hurting themselves could be the major advancement in treating Parkinson’s disease.
Thanks Michael. Exercise is the only thing believed to be able to slow the progression. See my next entry.
ReplyDelete