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Thursday 26 November 2020

Festination is a bitch

Today's rant concerns the centre of gravity for the human body.  This is important, so pay attention.  The center of gravity (aka  the center of mass)is that point at which mass is distributed equally.  Where it is on humans who are standing upright, with arms at their sides, you can fairly safely say the COG is located about 10 inches below the belly button. But the position of the COG moves around and its positions are dependent upon posture and the direction of limbs.  Not quite sure you understand this description of it's location?  Well you can figure out its exact position at any time using this equation

                    ∫R3ρ(r⃗ )⋅(r⃗ −r⃗ com)dV=0⃗

I vow never to use this method!

What use is this little package of information. Well, most of us parkies will develop the familiar parkie gait, which leads to a falling sensation.  You move your feet to counteract this feeling.  This gait is characterized by shuffling of the feet and the torso moving down and forward until the COG is located beyond the torso (outside of he body).  This causes the body to move faster and faster toward the COG, culminating in a fall.  If you feel like you're going to festinate, unless you take counter measures, you will festinate, not a fun experience. If you feel it coming on, sit down and the feeling will pass.  That is the solution to festination.

What is festination in Parkinson?

  • In Parkinson's disease (PD), festination corresponds to a tendency to speed up when performing repetitive movements. First described in gait (and then in handwriting and speech), festination is one of the most disabling axial symptoms.(free dictionarycom.)


Tuesday 10 November 2020

Don't trust your brain

 I am back......but  with a sad observation; emotions can be monsters in your mind and really, can you trust what you see?  I think I told about my encounter with the police resulting from an hallucination.  They were very understanding.  I thought the intruders were actually there.  The police initially searched the house, found nothing and I don't know what their next move would have been had my daughter-in-law not said, "He just said he thinks this must be an hallucination" and the topic turned to PD and PD drugs.  All's well that ends well.

I hadn't intended to bring this up except I have had a couple of hallucinations since and although not as dramatic, neither were they as scary.  I just tell myself:  Just another hallucination, go to sleep, and I do.

So beware your parky brain.  Take care of it but don't trust it. It is under attack and is losing its place as the king. 

Tomorrow, Friday at the latest the topic will be "Falls and PD"