Hi Everyone:
It's Monday evening, March 14, and this is the third posting on this blog. Again I want to thank everyone for their support, their kind cards and e-mails, and, generally, for their interest and concern. I'm really benefiting from your continued support. Please keep it coming.
There's been a lot going on in the last few days, so I've got a lot to report.
For the last few weeks, my biggest problem has been difficulty in falling and staying asleep. On a given night, I could expect only an hour or two of light sleep. Four or five hours was an all-too-infrequent blessing. Consequently, I was suffering from fatigue significant enough to make it nearly impossible to do my work efficiently, if at all. A colleague of mine In Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, Wen Liu, offered to let me join his class in Qigong. Qigong is an ancient form of meditation and breathing exercise that has been shown to have a relaxing effect that can diminish pain and improve sleep patterns. Like Tai Chi, it involves very slow, large, and smooth movements of the limbs. This should be desirable in cases of PD like mine. At this point, we've had two sessions of Qigong training. I look forward to the next six or eight weeks of practice under Dr. Liu's tutelage.
Although I was faithfully practicing Qigong and intend to continue practicing this art indefinitely, I got a surprise last Monday that will make it difficult to determine whether Qigong had or will have a direct effect on my sleep. The surprise was an e-mail from Dr. Pahwa's office indicating that there was an opening for an appointment on Tuesday. That's what I had been hoping for. So Sandy and I reported dutifully to the Parkinson's Center on Tuesday morning.
Well, you do have to be careful what you wish for. After a brief examination and consideration of all the details of my condition, Dr. Pahwa concluded that I do have a condition that is either PD or that falls within the family of PD. As far as I'm concerned, just having a diagnosis is an improvement. For example, with my updated report to Dr. Pahwa on my sleep pattern and his new diagnosis, he was able to prescribe two medications. The first is designed to help me sleep and to improve my mood. The second is a common PD drug, called Mirapex. Mirapex is a dopamine agonist used to target the direct symptoms of reduced levels of dopamine in the brain.
I used the first drug for three nights. I felt much better on the days after taking this drug, but I received little benefit in my sleeping, despite the clear sedating effect produced by the drug. I would be tired and groggy, then lay my head down on my pillow and feel wide awake. Friday night, however, I took a dose of Mirapex. This completely resolved the sleep issue. I slept until 9 AM Saturday morning and woke up feeling really quite good. I had a great day on Saturday. I felt lucid all day, very clearheaded, and found myself humming tunes, singing songs, singing in the shower, etc.; essentially being the goober that I usually am. After the game, (go Jayhawks!), Sandy and I attended a Janis Ian concert. It was truly beautiful. You've got to go to hear her, if you get a chance. Took me back to the 60s and 70s, for sure. Despite the sleepy tone of most of the Ian's songs, I stayed awake and attentive, and enjoyed it immensely.
I won't bore you with the details, but the last two nights , yesterday and today have been good days, too. My mood has been good, my thinking has been clear, and I have felt like doing things again. Even my typing has been decidedly smoother and more error-free.
So, the bottom line is that we'll work to get the Mirapex dose up to the most desirable level and monitor the effects on all my symptoms. In the meantime, I'll continue my Qigong, my cross-country ski machine workouts, and light weightlifting, and I intend to do more stretching. I think I'm as optimistic as this disease can allow a body to be; I know that every day won't be this way, so, I'm trying to soak it all in while I have the opportunity.
Be well, and please check back in a week or so for another update. Also, it's much easier to return your e-mail messages now, so don't hesitate to drop me a line.
Take care,
Marc
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