Parkinson’s research

August 1, 2011

Parkinson’s Disease Myth #1

Parkinson’s is a disease of the elderly. If this myth were a reality, my pharmacy shopping basket would not include a Mirapex prescription alongside tampons and No. 2 pencils. If this myth were a reality, there would be more gray hair among the students in my yoga classes. Conversations would be filled with tales of retirement rather than of the challenges of balancing career and family with a chronic disease. According to the Cleveland Clinic, “Roughly 10 – 20 percent of those diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease are under age 50, and about half of those are diagnosed before age 40.” If this reality were to become as prevalent as the myth, there would be more people willing to participate in studies. Or more who wish to learn about the phases and process of research trials. Here’s hoping that a cure becomes reality. Maybe it’ll even happen before I’m old enough to be a […]
February 1, 2012

Roll the Dice

     Friends see us one morning at the gym cruising along on the treadmill. The next afternoon, they might witness us shuffling the aisles of the grocery store barely able to reach for the spaghetti sauce. The “You Look Great” comment morphs into no comment.      Is it possible to describe how days — hours — vary widely when living with Parkinson’s?      Consider making a comparison to a classic board game. The dice, like our meds — can determine so much. Who hasn’t wished for doubles to slip by landing on that hotel on Boardwalk?  But, just as passing Go holds no guarantee that we’ll collect our $200 again the next time around, simply getting through today with no “off” time is no sure sign that same will hold true for tomorrow.      On the good rolls, like on good days when symptoms wane, we […]
March 1, 2016

Insta-Like

I click the Like icon routinely on friend’s Facebook posts or their comments on mine. It’s a rare moment, however, when my internal Like button gets pressed and that immediate, undeniably warm sensation whooshes in and says, Yes. Good. Life is better because that person is here living it, too. In yoga, our awareness opens us, teaches us to step back from our egos and witness the Like in all. Well, I’m not there, yet. Maybe after the election. In the meantime, there are people such as Meg Bernard. I haven’t met her, have never spoken with her, don’t know where she lives. Still, she has a message and such likeability worth sharing. Almost makes me want to staple her name to a stick and stand on the street corner urging you to read Meg’s blog (click to read her blog) and cast your ballot for more people like her.
May 9, 2019

Inhale and Hold for Five

This Is So not Yoga A Promise For more than five years, neurologists have been promising an inhalable form of the Parkinson’s gold-standard medication. No lengthy trials were needed to test the medication itself – the inhaler uses the Levodopa of the Carbidopa/Levodopa combo so many of us already swallow numerous times per day. The delivery system (a puff like an asthmatic’s remedy) however, needed to pass safety and efficacy trials. Early on, the Michael J. Fox Foundation gave two grants of more than a million dollars to the study. Still, the years ticked on. Burger or Bust The reason so many of us continued to be hopeful about the elusive inhaler was because it would send the medication into the bloodstream without having to go through the stomach and intestines first. Maintaining a steady level in the bloodstream is essential – drop too low and symptoms become severe and […]