April is Parkinson’s Awareness Month
Happy April! It’s so wonderful to see the splash of color as spring flowers awake from their winter sleep to help us celebrate new life. The tomb is empty. He is risen! Hallelujah!
April also brings a time set aside for Parkinson’s awareness, although many of us are aware of it every day. I
was diagnosed in 2012, so I’m entering my eleventh year. The disease is so prevalent that most people know someone with PD. Below is a list of symptoms for those who live with Parkinson’s. It may help you to understand their challenges and find ways that you can help.
- Cross-body movements: People with PD don’t move with the same synchrony. Most people swing arms when they walk. This occurs without thought. Arms swing opposite leg movement. Right leg forward, left arm forward. Some neuro-connection is lost when dopamine is diminished, leaving behind awkward, wooden movements.
- Muscle rigidity
- Softness of voice: Volume will come and go without warning. I learned in speech therapy that our vocal cords are muscle, so they’re subject to the same rigidity as other muscles.
- Balance difficulty
- Freezing: No, this doesn’t mean body temperature. It refers to an inability to put the next foot forward when walking.
- Shuffled movements: My foot has a slight drag. I’ve learned to step slowly and deliberately.
- Constipation: Severe (enough said)
- Diminished sense of smell: PD effects the olfactory receptors.
- Dry eyes: Those with PD don’t blink enough.
- Hallucinations: Fortunately, I haven’t experienced these, as some of my colleagues have. Instead, I have a propensity toward nightmares, which has greatly impacted my TV and reading choices. No crime shows. No thrillers.
Exercise is medicine. That’s true for all people, but especially for those battling the symptoms of PD. Much research shows the link between exercise and neurological health. My choice of exercise is through a group called Rock Steady Boxing. It’s specific to people with Parkinson’s and designed for their unique needs. RSB has chapters in many locations. If you know someone suffering from PD, tell them about this group.
If you’d like to help, consider making a donation to Parkinson’s Research Foundation https://parkinsonhope.org/ways-donate/.
Last year I launched Though the Mountains Be Shaken, a novel with a protagonist who learns she has PD. It provides insight into the physical and emotional side of living with Parkinson’s. Here is a copy of the book blurb and a link if you’d like to purchase a copy for yourself or a friend. Pricing was kept deliberately low for the purpose of spreading the awareness. Don’t forget to drop a review on Amazon, Goodreads, and/or BookBub.
Kate Dunbar puts 100% into everything she does—a career as a literary agent, a mom of preschool twins, and the wife of Ryan Dunbar, a criminal defense attorney. She appears to have the perfect life, until it begins to crumble piece by piece—her marriage, her health, and her job.
Kate blames emotional stress for her fatigue, stiffness, and tremors. As symptoms begin to increase, Kate finds herself unable to control her body’s erratic movements. At the same time that she and Ryan separate, she receives a diagnosis of Parkinson’s. Determined not to tell her estranged husband of her diagnosis, Kate faces an unknown future and the possibility that she’ll face it as a single mother.
As glimmers of hope for a restored marriage begin to surface, more upheavals await them. A case that Ryan is defending endangers his family and his career.
Kate and Ryan both harbor secrets that threaten their marriage. Can they mend their broken family? How will Parkinson’s affect their future? For better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, forsaking all others. Every vow they spoke eight years ago is being tested. Can they survive the storm?
Order your copy at: Though the Mountains Be Shaken – Kindle edition by Neely, Kathleen. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.