This blog is about my personal successful experience, found
through trial and error over 14 years of resisting Parkinson’s with a single minded
determination to live a normal life, and not one dictated by some wimp ass
disease. I will show you what works and
what has not. It’s possible that no one else knows about my llst of things that
work. Possible but not likely. It would be more likely that a cure for PD has
been discovered on an isolated mountain top in Tibet . This is not a medical blog or a how to, but
when I can insert some common sense discussion, I will. Some things are just
too important to ignore.
So how did I tap into my bad attitude?
For me, it helps to humanize, or maybe it’s demonize, the
enemy. If you have Parkinson’s, then you already know the enemy. It’s that
thing that makes you feel like you have a terrible hangover every morning when
you wake up. And you haven’t had a drink in a week. (Opportunity for a “good
news, bad news” joke.) The bad news is
with Parkinson’s, you always wake up with a hangover. The good news is that
with Parkinson’s you will wake up. (As opposed to diseases that will put you to
sleep permanently.) Please allow my morbid humor as bad as it is. Thank you.
What we need to do now is get motivated to begin to resist
PD. Motivation is what you get when you combine attitude with a pressing need
for action and a belief that the action will help. My plan is to convince anyone
who has PD and interest that there is a way to make life better, more enjoyable,
less frustrating and less painful by taking from what I learned in 14 years of
trial and error of resisting PD and holding that demon at bay or even beating it back by reversing
symptoms. I hope that the list of symptoms eliminated or reduced will motivate
someone to action. I’m not saying that if you do what I did, your symptoms will
react the same way. This is unlikely since most people with PD do not share all
symptoms. At least I don’t think so. I never did a survey.
First, and, to me, most important was rebuilding my muscles
after my right side was reduced in size and strength by 50 percent in my
estimation. I already mentioned that. I hope
to address the specifics of the exercise program as soon as I clear it with one
or two personal trainers, even though I did not use a personal trainer. I
simply do not want provide this type of information that could be inappropriate
for some people, especially if someone is older and has no experience with
intense physical activity. I do not want to be responsible for your heart
attack.
Keep in mind that I have had a very active physical life
starting before high school, continuing through college, then right through my
entire adult life. My greatest physical achievement was when I was 35 and ran a
full 26.2 mile marathon in Newport Rhode Island in 4 hours, 11 minutes and 50
seconds, coming in around 1600th in a field of around 2500 runners. In addition
to running, I played tennis, racket ball and squash, occasional softball and
terrible golf. I was also an aggressive water
and snow skier, swam laps and lifted light weights to keep my body trim and
fit. So in this regard, I knew and know my body and what it needs to feel
good,, look good and stay healthy and probably why I was so freaked out about
my muscle atrophy and developed an insane determination to stop the atrophy and
repair the damage.
If you know your body and it’s limitations and understand
how to treat it, get off your butt and get started exercising. It doesn’t
matter what you do to get started, but starting an exercise program is the first
step to feeling much better.
Start exercising. Do it now.
If you need inspiration, google:
Changing Course: Jimmy Choi”s Story
If that doesn’t inspire you, nothing will.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgRDYZoUnac
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