Caregiving for a Person with Parkinson's Disease

February 27, 2016

Here at Out-Thinking Parkinson's, it is our mission to help not only People with Parkinson's, but also the people who love and care for them, those who also have, in a very direct way, their own lives touched by the disease.

One of the most valuable contributions we can make, we feel, is simply to express the feelings and thoughts of what it is like to be a person affected by Parkinson's or to care for someone with the disease. We hope this humanization of PD will help others in the same situation come to terms with living with the disease and bring new understandings for the wider community too.

Is Movement the Definition of Life?

February 21, 2016

And so I must go on. Evolve into the changes and learn, again, to embrace the growth that I am going to go through to get where I want to go.The part of this phase that brings up my curiosity is that where I need to go is to the side of a man who has been living with early onset Parkinson's Disease for six years. A very specific part of his brain has neurons that are on the fritz that cause him to have trouble moving or prevent him from moving at all. This is not the vacation that I presumed it to be when I longed to be able to just exist with everything arranged nicely so that I could vegetate, chill, and relax as my primary avocation

How I Stopped Dying Inside and Started Out-Thinking Parkinson's

February 19, 2016

This is my story. It is intended both as a personal insight and to help others. It is a story about the vital importance of hope, potentials, positive mindset and the will to overcome when learning to live again after a diagnosis of Parkinson's. I write these words for everyone who's lives have been affected by the disease, whether directly or indirectly.

For no-one can truly live in the dark places of hopelessness.

So let me show you that all is not lost and why Parkinson's is not the end of life as we know it.

How Can I Start to Help my Friend with Parkinson's Disease?

February 13, 2016

When someone with Parkinson's comes into your life, you have a lot of catching up to do.

The point of this article is to open up your eyes to ways that you can start with what you know and begin to offer some support to someone who has a condition that is very complex and confusing to us laypeople.

My Experience with Counselling and Parkinson's Disease

February 9, 2016

For me, it began when my own mind was changed and with it the opening up of my ability to be emotive. My Mind Change is quite literal. New pathways, new mental capacities, new thought horizons. Not just thinking different thoughts, but thinking in different ways. Unleashed potentials, to do and say and affect things in ways I could never have dreamed possible before. The story of "How I Changed my Mind" is still one with a mystery at its heart, because there are hidden players, external to this text, forces at work I have not spoken about…

This is that story

How A Yoga Mudra Helped Me to Control Side-Effects of Parkinson's Drugs

January 15, 2016

Right back at the start of the Out-Thinking Parkinson's project we were focused on interventions to control dyskinesia - an unfortunate side effect of the drugs prescribed to alleviate the stiffness and rigidity of Parkinson's. Since then our researches have demonstrated that the best way to prevent dyskinesia is to lower the drug burden, safely accomplished by using diet, music and movement therapy, light therapy and relaxation techniques to significantly reduce the symptoms of the disease itself.

Moving Differently with Parkinson's Disease

January 7, 2016

In this entry, I would like to reveal to you the way my Parkinson’s Disease affects me personally, when in the “trough” of the cycle or at times when some may consider I'm in an under-medicated state. Now, it is very important to realize that “Parkinson’s Disease” is a catch-all term for many movement disorders, and everyone may be touched by it in different ways and have different responses. We usually say that someone has a “Parkinsonism” to highlight this. Also, I have the "Early Onset" form (diagnosed in my late thirties), like Michael J. Fox, who is perhaps the most famous person who was diagnosed at a young age.

Drug Induced Dyskinesia in Parkinson's Disease

January 5, 2016

In this first entry, many of you will be getting a first glimpse of me and hearing my voice for the first time! But as far as first impressions go, please be warned: you might be shocked, for this was recorded purposefully when the side of effects of my medication were very acute. In fact, I often take another drug to alleviate these medication induced symptoms, so this is not my typical state. The important point to note however is that, over the course of years, without other interventions, what you see here in the initial part of the video will become a more and more frequent state for me. For those who experience such extremes with the condition on a daily basis, our total sympathy – we release this video for you.