Reaching a Milestone and an Inspiring New Book to Read

On May 3, 2019May 3, 2019 By skrischerIn Book Reviews, Education & Advocacy, Exercise, Inspiration, Living Well, Parkinsons Disease, World Parkinson Congress 20193 Comments

Look at you. You’re in Spain. You’re walking out here on the Meseta. How many people are doing this? How many people with a chronic disease do you see out here today?……Do something good, Carol. Find something good to do with it.” From The Ribbon of Road Ahead

Twitchy Woman has reached a milestone. This is post #201 ! ! ! When I started this blog, I never expected it to continue for as long as it has. And what a ride it has been. Somehow, I have posted almost weekly in the last 4 years, and am honored to have made Best Parkinson’s Blogs lists at least 6 times (see the sidebar). Other opportunities for me have come up as a result. I want to thank everyone of you who has been following me, whether it has been for 200 posts or just 1. My initial blogpost was seen by just 15 people. There are now over 1500 followers. Your support and encouragement have kept me going.

On my way to Kyoto!

Speaking of opportunities, as you may know, I submitted an abstract to the World Parkinson’s Congress. At medical meetings, researchers are asked to submit abstracts (a brief description of their research study). If their abstract is accepted, they will then create a poster based on their research for display. For the WPC, People with Parkinson’s (PwP’s) were also encouraged to submit their ideas (abstracts) for living well with PD. There will be hundreds of posters on display throughout the conference. If you are attending the WPC, look for me on Wednesday, June 5, between 11:30-1:30. I will be at my poster in space 649 to talk about it and I would love to meet you.

Thank you to all who responded to my survey for this project. I cannot give you the final results until after the WPC, but the most important things for someone to live well with PD are Exercise and Getting Enough Sleep. Neither of these should be a surprise for anyone with PD. If we don’t have a good night’s sleep, the daytime fatigue can be debilitating. And that fatigue manifests itself in many ways.

As far as Exercise is concerned, the more you do, and the more intense it is, the better. I had hand surgery last Thursday and have not been able to exercise since. I am already noticing, 5 days later, that my tremor is acting up more. We need to think of Exercise as medicine, and I have not been taking my medicine.

The Ribbon of Road Ahead

And speaking of exercise, I just finished reading an inspiring new book by fellow PwP, Carol Clupny titled The Ribbon of Road Ahead. After her diagnosis of Parkinson’s, Carol was determined to walk The Camino de Santiago. If you have traveled in northwestern Spain, from Pamplona to Santiago de Compestola, you may have seen hikers walking along the route marked with seashells pointing the way. Pilgrims from all over the world come to walk on this grueling 500+ mile network of pilgrim routes, from Southern France to Spain, for many different reasons, often hiking through rocky mountain passes. The Way, as it is called in the movie with Emilio Estevez and Martin Sheen, is difficult for anyone without disabilities, but Carol was not going to let that stop her. With her husband, son and other family members and friends at her side, she recounts the obstacles she faced as well as the accomplishments.

Carol went back 2 more times to walk parts of the trail with other women whom she had met along the way. She has also biked across Iowa 3 times with her husband on the annual 450 mile RAGBRAI (The Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa) with the Pedaling for Parkinson’s team. Much of the ride was done on a tandem bike named Grepedo. She did all of this before her DBS surgery a couple of years ago. The final chapters recount her surgery and the small successes that were the beginning of regaining her life before PD. Her story is inspiring, and shows that determination and grit can help those of us with a chronic illness get through some of the more difficult times. Carol has indeed done something good by sharing her story with us. Look for Carol at the WPC in Kyoto if you are there.

Clinical Trials for Parkinson’s Need You!

On March 31, 2019 By skrischerIn Exercise, Living Well, Research & Clinical StudiesLeave a comment

The answer is truly in all of us, working together. International collaboration is essential for speeding a cure for the 5 million Parkinson’s patients worldwide.

— Michael J. Fox

You may ask why you should participate in Clinical Trials for Parkinson’s Disease. After all, aren’t they always drug trials? You say you don’t want to be a guinea pig for a pharmaceutical company. Well, the good news is, not all clinical trials involve drugs. The bad news is that many researchers cannot complete their studies because not enough people participate in them.

Since being diagnosed 10 years ago, I have participated in a number of studies. Some of them on-line, some by telephone, and others in person. Many provide some form of compensation. One study was a long-term study though the Alzheimer’s Center at UCLA which recruited people with Neurological disorders to look at cognitive differences. Three years in a row, I was given a 3 hour cognitive test by graduate students, doing tasks such as recalling as many items as possible from a list of 20 words – our brains usually can process a string of 7 items, which is why your phone number is 7 numbers. Anything over 7 can be difficult to retrieve. Other tasks included looking at shapes and being asked to replicate them from memory, repeating paragraphs that are read to you, counting, etc. Unfortunately this study was discontinued due to lack of funding.

This past week I went to USC – University of Southern California (I had to give the other LA university equal time), to work with Dr. Giselle Petzinger, whose research focuses on the effects of exercise on Parkinson’s. This time, she is looking at the association between fitness and cognitive performance in Parkinson’s Disease. She wants to see which PwP’s are doing well cognitively and if there is a correlation with the types of exercise they are doing. This is an 18 month study that involves 3 visits to USC and using wearable devices for 1-week every 3 months. I was number 15 in the study. She needs 35 more people to complete the study, but recruitment is going very slowly.

The first day included a 3 hour cognitive assessment! I remembered a lot of the exercises from the tests at UCLA. I think everyone uses the same resources for measing cognitive ablility. Day 2 began with a brain MRI. Then the fun began. I was escorted to a lab where I got to try out Virtual Reality. After putting some sensors on my arms and legs, I put on the VR headset, excited to check it out. I was in a waiting room of some sort, with all kinds of video games on the shelves. The 360 view was amazing as I turned my head. But no, that wasn’t for me to use. Instead I was to walk down a long hallway (I did this on a treadmill) stepping over obstacles of 2 different heights. Then I had to do it over and over, each time with different instructions.

Day 3 was even more interesting.

I repeated the task from Day 2 two more times and then I spent the next half hour getting even more sensors for my last walk on the treadmill. Have you ever seen how CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) is done to animate a computer designed animal? That is what I looked like. Mr. Twitchy says I looked like a Christmas tree! This last task was to look at gait and balance. The treadmill has two separate treads that you walk on. While I was walking at a fairly quick pace, one of the treadmills would slow down or speed up with no warning. My job was to keep my balance. I was tethered by a harness so that I would not fall. After more gait and balance tests I was sent home with my wearables (watch and heart monitor). I am looking forward to seeing the results of this trial.

How do you find a study that works for you? You can start with Fox Trial Finder. It is easy to register, and you will receive notices of trials that you qualify for. The Parkinson’s Foundation has been following over 12,000 people in 5 countries with the Parkinson’s Outcomes Project. Check it out to see if you can participate. Ask your Movement Disorders Specialist or Neurologist if they know of any trials near you. Ask your PD friends if they know of anything. If you are interested in the USC trial, contact me at twitchywoman18@gmail.com and I will forward your info to Dr. Petzinger.

April is Parkinson’s Awareness Month. My challenge to you for April is to find a way to get involved in research. You can make a difference in your life and the lives of others. Think about it. But not too long. As the Nike ads say “Just Do It“

Can You Live Well With PD?

On December 10, 2018December 11, 2018 By skrischerIn Exercise, Inspiration, Living Well, Research & Clinical StudiesLeave a comment

With the World Parkinson’s Congress coming up in June, I have been considering submitting an abstract for the Poster Display at the Congress. One of the categories for submission is “Living Well With Parkinson’s Disease”. I started thinking about what works for me to live well with PD, and then decided to ask the 950+ members of a Women with PD Facebook group that I participate in, what works for them. On line, we often discuss different symptoms, medications, responses to medications, etc. But the women in this group also like to talk about the positive things in their lives.

In one long term study, Complementary & Alternative Medicine Care in Parkinson’s Disease, (CAM Care in PD), Dr. Laurie Mischley, of Bastyr University, is looking at people who are living well with PD with the hope of finding dietary and lifestyle factors associated with a slower disease progression. The twice annual survey asks about your diet, exercise, medications, alternative treatments, etc. If you are not familiar with her work, click on the link above to find out more about it and to sign up for her study.

I decided to take a slightly different angle and ask the women what THEY think helps them to live well with Parkinson’s. So I posted the following to the FB group in November:

Please list the top 3 things that help YOU to live well with Parkinson’s. Then the flip side – the top 3 things that are obstacles for you:
For example:
Positive: Exercise, Advocating for myself with my doctors, Friendships with other women with PD.
Negative: Poor sleep, Tremor gets in the way of doing things, Daytime fatigue

This is by no means a scientific study. As a blogger, I like to poll my readers occasionally on a topic that interests me. I look for trends in order to write about a topic. For this poll, I have about 60 responses so far,and it became clear very quickly that Exercise in any form is the most positive factor for living well. Friendships with other women with PD is also very important to them. Having friends with PD means that they have someone who knows how they are feeling and understands what they are going through. Interestingly, Family-including a supportive spouse- and Faith were tied for third.

On the negative side, Sleep problems, including insomnia, fatigue and more, was the overwhelming winner. Balance and Gait problems were second and Anxiety was third.

The one thing that was missing is “Staying Active”. Only a few people mentioned anything related to this. I realized that it was an important missing piece when I read Blogger Sherri Woodbridge’s Nov. 28 post in Parkinson’s News Today

She says: Being active involves more than movement on your part. It includes a state of mind to persevere, to keep putting one foot in front of the other, and to not give up even when you feel like quitting.

I could not say it better than this, and yes, this is the one thing that keeps me going. Since my husband retired 7 years ago, we have traveled extensively around the world. We go to the symphony, theater and sporting events, often with friends. We are active in our community and spend time with our children and grandchildren. And we both find time to exercise almost daily. He plays golf, I still play tennis. Sitting home and doing nothing is not an option for us. As a result, I do not feel the isolation and depression that plague many people with PD. I also feel good physically most of the time. My biggest problem is the fatigue from poor sleep. But I don’t let that stop me. I have learned my limits and will rest when I need to, especially when traveling. 10 years after my diagnosis, my progression is still slow and I have not had to change my lifestyle very much.

We are fortunate that today that our doctors encourage exercise and being active, something that Parkinson’s people were discouraged from doing in the not too distant past. For many of us, living an active life and exercise are the most important things that will make our lives better with PD. Even if you have limited mobility, try to get out and and do things, even if it is just going to a movie. You will find that the more you go out and do things you enjoy, the better you will feel.

If you would like to participate in my informal survey, please send an email to me at twitchywoman18@gmail.com. This is for all people with Parkinson’s only. No caregivers, please.

Tennis Anyone?

On October 10, 2018 By skrischerIn Exercise, Inspiration, Living Well, Parkinsons Disease1 Comment

Tennis seems to be the perfect exercise to help PD – the hand-eye coordination, sudden quick movements, the thinking process used to execute a shot. Jan Jackson

Tennis has been one of my passions since I was a child, playing with wooden tennis rackets that we had to store in a wooden frame to keep them from

Image result for billie jean king wooden tennis racket — I wish I still had this racket!

warping. My earliest tennis idol was Billy Jean King and I even had a Billy Jean King tennis racket. When Mr Twitchy and I moved to Los Angeles, playing tennis was an easy way to meet new people.

Eventually the wooden tennis racket gave way to the new lighter graphite rackets in the 80’s and my tennis game improved. My tennis idols and my rackets have changed over the years and I have been fortunate to have attended 3 of the 4 Tennis Open tournaments in the last 10 years. I am hoping that I will be able to get to the fourth, the French Open, in the next few years.

When we moved to a new house and new school for our kids, tennis was again the intro to new friends. In fact, I have been playing in a regular game for over 25 years with three other women whom I met at the elementary school Tennis Tournament Fundraiser so long ago. They are my friends, my confidants.

After my tremor started 10 years ago, they were the first to know about it. When it was difficult to talk about my Parkinsons diagnosis, they were the ones who were there for me, refusing to let me take the easy way out and quit playing tennis. When I told one doctor about them, his advice was to “keep those friends”. That was the easiest doctor’s order I have ever followed. Tennis has literally kept me going through the worst of times with PD. It hasn’t always been easy. My stamina and balance vary from week to week, my feet don’t always move as well as they should and I frequently lose my grip on my racket for no reason. I have often thought about finding a way to glue my racket to my hand so that I can’t lose my grip.

So I was not surprised to see a website about Tennis and PD posted by PD blogger, Gary Sharpe, about the benefits of tennis for Parkinson’s from a program titled Educational Tennis For Parkinson. The only problem is that the article is in Italian! Fortunately, Google translate came to the rescue. From their website comes this description of their program:

Tennis by many scholars is considered the most complete sport. The Educational Tennis Program for Parkinson ® program specifically designed and created for those suffering from Parkinson’s disease in the initial and intermediate phase, tends to help them to carry out a sport activity whose main objectives are: to develop cognitive skills, to stimulate the motility of everything the body, develop the coordination, stimulate the respiratory system, stimulate concentration, develop automatisms, develop the metabolic function, favor the reappropriation of a serene relationship with one’s physicality, enhancing one’s own potentiality, support for an improvement in the quality of life . (please excuse grammatical errors, this is directly from the Google translation)

Whew! That is quite an ambitious statement! I love the “serene relationship” part. Overall, I agree with them totally. Tennis is a great total workout for you, requiring hand-eye coordination (not always easy with PD), quick movements and lots of concentration.

Sharpe also posted an article by Jan Jackson, a woman with PD who plays 🎾, this time in English. She put into words exactly what it has felt like for me playing tennis with PD. She increased the amount of time she plays tennis because of PD. On the other hand, I had decreased my playing to once a week because I found that there was little extra time for tennis in addition to my regular daily exercise programs (yoga, boxing, etc.) However, I have recently added a second day of tennis, with a “Live Ball”* clinic at the club we belong to, that has really helped improve my game with PD. I am hoping to be able to add another day of tennis to my workout schedule sometime soon.

My hope is that I will continue to play tennis with my friends, Gayle, Martha and Lenore, for many more years to come. Thank you for being there for me all these years.

*Live Ball is a fun doubles king/queen of the courts-type game played where tennis balls are fed by a tennis pro to start points instead of serves.

An Evening with Jimmy

On July 22, 2018July 22, 2018 By skrischerIn Exercise, Inspiration, Living Well, Parkinsons Disease2 Comments

No matter what you are faced with, if you make your body healthier, you are going to feel better. Jimmy Choi

On a perfect Southern California evening a few days ago, Mr. Twitchy and I had the priviledge of hosting American Ninja/PD Warrior Jimmy Choi at our home, with the help of Alex Montaldo and Roberta Marongiu from StopPD, who co-sponsored the event. Over 30 fans with Parkinson’s came on short notice to meet Jimmy and hear about his journey from Parkinson’s diagnosis to Ninja Warrior. They were not disappointed.

Jimmy Choi was diagnosed with PD at 27 and basically denied that he had this “old person’s disease” for 8 years, until he had a wake up call. He stopped exercising because of the diagnosis, had gained over 50 pounds and was walking with a cane for balance. This former athlete was not in good shape. Parkinson’s was taking over his life.

This was definitely not the person who was sitting next to me. The Jimmy Choi I met was musclebound, moving easily without a cane. Confident. Knowledgeable. What changed his life so dramatically?

One day after he lost his balance and fell down a flight of stairs while carrying his son. He realized then that he had to do something to turn his life around. He was becoming a danger to his family and he could not let that happen.

He started slowly, just walking, First one block and then two, gradually increasing as his energy levels improved. Eventually he started working out with a trainer. He had started to educate himself about Parkinson’s and changed his diet. Then, one day he boarded a flight for a business trip, and found a copy of Runner’s World that someone left on his seat. There was an article in the magazine about a person with Parkinson’s running a marathon. That was the “aha” moment that he needed. He came home and entered his first 5K race. Then a 10K race. He quickly moved on to 1/2 marathons and then finally, marathons. He has run over 100 1/2 marathons and 15 marathons since 2012. His weight came down, he no longer needed the cane and eventually was able to reduce his meds because of all of the exercise. His balance improved along with his gait. He is living proof that exercise is the best medicine for PD.

All of this eventually led to his participation in American Ninja Warrior (ANW) competitions.

In the video of my interview with Jimmy, he tells his story and explains how he got involved in working with the Fox Foundation, (for whom he has raised over $250,000,) and ANW. I think you will find him very inspiring and motivating.

My dear friend and PD pal, Sandy Rosenblatt came out of PD forced retirement to record and edit this video which shows how amazing and inspiring Jimmy is.

Following Jimmy’s talk, we participated in PushUps4Parkinsons and in an obstacle course set up by StopPD. Thank you to Jen Heath, who brought the project to us and created the video. Watch Jimmy doing his pushups with first his daughter, then Alex Montaldo, on his back. He is one impressive man!