My body does not respond well to heat. What seems to happen
is that whatever Parkinson’s disease symptoms, which pop up every once in a
while, will amplify because of intense summer heat. The overriding symptom for
me is a debilitating tiredness. But I know how to handle and make it disappear.
This sensation is also a medicinal side effect of PD fighting drugs. Fact is I
don’t need to know where symptoms or side effect comes from, just how do I
manage around them if I want to experience a normal day. Of course, removing
the heat by moving to Alaska would most likely reduce or eliminate the annoyance
of tiredness or, putting it another way, a lack of energy. But my grandchildren
don’t live in Alaska.
Strangely enough, it is exercise which uses energy that
works to provide energy. I think the energy is ready and waiting to be tapped. Exercise seems
to stimulate the nerve paths from the brain to the muscles and the muscles
provide feedback to the brain that says we are not really tired. It’s just the
nerve message system that doesn’t work when it is hot.
Yesterday the hot and humid weather let up a bit and temps
were in the 70’s. Not cool, but not as
hot as last week. My sluggish muscles which apparently had not been working
because of the heat, were working almost 100% normal. It was very clear that
this symptom was gone yesterday because I had to walk to a dentist appointment and
walking as fast as I could took 30 minutes. But I am not 100% sure that the slightly
cooler temps were the reason. It was just a bit cooler; it wasn’t cool.
Over the last 4 days I had also changed my exercise routine
to almost exclusively the TRX system. It is possible that the new and extremely
intense system also contributed. There is no way to tell yet for sure.
There is possibly some good news and bad news. Good news could
be that TRX works at a higher level of intensity for people like me who are still
fit and strong enough to use it. The bad news is that it could be too strenuous
for a lot of people who have to manage their Parkinson’s exercise program to
their capabilities.
Need more time to evaluate the TRX system. One very positive
that is important to me is the large number of balance improvement exercises
available. I will focus on evaluating these for Parkinson’s people.
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| Photo is the church across Church Street from the World Trade Center site in New York City. |
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