Parkinson's and Meditation

I listen to National Public Radio daily but rarely catch the program "Speaking of Faith", but when I do I am almost always impressed. I often have what some call "driveway moments" where you've arrived home or at your destination but cannot get out of the car because you are so engrossed in the conversation emanating from the radio. This morning, rather yesterday morning, I listened to an interview with a professor of physics from Amherst College who spoke of his long time practice of western style meditation and its connection to his interest in science. He talked about his background and told the story of his early years as a college student; he had a less than stellar grade point average and a laissez faire attitude (and a D in physics) when a conversation with his then physics professor turned his attention to the study of Goethe and meditation. He learned to integrate the intellectual and spiritual aspects of his life and has practiced meditation for more than 30 years. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease a year ago and has some interesting comments about how meditation affects his symptoms and his perception of his disease. Click on the title for a link to the interview. I hope you enjoy it!

What's new at the Parkinson's Action Network (PAN)?

PAN has successfully completed a project with social security to enhance the understanding and definition of PD as it relates to the assessment for work related disability payments. The social security criteria for PD was outdated and not reflective of current research and understanding of the disease. It has been brought up to date and social security now has new guidelines. And, there is a form that you can download and complete, and share with your doctor, that will help Social Security and your health care team track and report your PD symptoms for the disability assessment process. In fact, download a few forms and take them to your doctors the next time you go, they may have other patients that might be interested.

On June 24th PAN will host an interactive webcast called Emerging Therapies, From Microscope to Marketplace, the time is 2:00pm - 4:30pm. See the website for additional details.

Honor the fathers in your life by planting a virtual tulip in PAN's tulip garden by donating to a good cause. See the website.

Take a look at the PAN website, link above in the title of this post, for more information.

A life well lived and other musings

I learned a lesson or three today, the most important that a life well lived leaves room for no regrets when it's time to move on, and that death for some can be a celebration of life and a legacy of love for those still living. Geoff Becker taught his friends and family how to live life so that when the time comes to leave there is gratitude, love, laughter and tears but no regrets. It is not surprising that those people who leave large footprints in life do so also in death. What a world it would be if everyone took a lesson from Geoff; to give to others without sacrificing oneself, to work hard but still have fun, to strive for excellence in all that you do and remain modest about your accomplishments, to love another person steadily year after year and to still be 'in love', to do the same job year after year and still be productive and creative, to set an example for your children and the children of your friends with humor, to enable an auditorium full of family and friends to cry together and laugh together when you are no longer there to share the tears and laughter with them. Thank you Geoff, you wrote the book, and none of us is too old to learn from it.

I'm awake again..or still

I listened to a webcast yesterday, the topic was fatigue and sleep disorders related to Parkinson's Disease. And, here I am awake at 12:30 am in a hotel room, traveling on business. I need to be alert for a meeting tomorrow, fortunately it's not early so maybe I'll be able to sleep later than usual. the webcast was interesting and emphasized the non-motor symptoms of PD and the fact that they, more than the motor symptoms which define the disease, can be the real culprits responsible for day to day misery and low quality of life. I recently visited the neurologist and my primary complaints were fatigue and sleep disturbance. She focused on my sleep problems, which in truth only bother me about 2 or 3 times a week, the rest of the nights I sleep ok. I realized that I can be incredibly fatigued regardless of the amount of sleep I got the previous night, whereas if I did have a bad night's sleep I am invariably fatigued the next day as well. So, fatigue can occur alone whereas poor sleep always results in fatigue, a double whammy. I am still resistant to taking sleeping pills, though she continues to try to talk me into it, I will take melatonin which sometimes (rarely) works. i do all the other things I should do, exercise, no coffee after noon, not too much napping, etc.

I'm tired of that topic (no pun intended). On to more joyful topics. Our wedding was wonderful: lots of good family and friend interactions. Family came from all over: my parents, sister and brother in law from Arizona; uncle and aunt from Colorado; more aunts and uncles from Baltimore; cousin from Boston; nephew-son from St Thomas; son from New York; and daughter from the universe, currently she is living in Puerto Rico. And, friends, both old and new ones came to celebrate. It was wonderful and I was exhausted for the entire week following the wedding. happily exhausted, but nonetheless devoid of any energy. I try to pace myself and plan but find it very hard to do, my energy level is so unpredictable and I don't like holding back when I'm feeling good just to "conserve" my energy. Sometimes I conserve with no discernible results. If I'm feeling good I'd just as soon do as much as I can when I can.