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Living with Parkinson's Disease - Meet others & come say hi
Parkinson's Disease | Last Active: 10 hours ago | Replies (734)Comment receiving replies
@macbeth
I also have Ischemic Heart Disease, as well as Hypothyroidism, and I was recently diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease.
I had a friend who had Parkinson's Disease. His wife had to go to monthly staff meetings and she asked me if I could come and stay with her husband so she could go to the staff meetings. I stayed with him over a two year period. It was a real eye opener for me to see him slipping away. When I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease it hit me pretty hard because I witnessed my friend during the last 2 years of his life.
I'm making changes in my plans for the future now, after watching my friend's last two years.
Replies to "@macbeth I also have Ischemic Heart Disease, as well as Hypothyroidism, and I was recently diagnosed..."
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Hello @barryl and welcome to the PD support group on Mayo Clinic Connect. I'm glad that you found this forum. It is important to have a place to share your experiences with others. I understand that you watched a friend deal with Parkinson's and that it was difficult to see him slipping away. Please know that each person's experience with PD is different.
Some of the most important things about having PD are to combine regular exercise with the medication. This exercise should be something that you enjoy doing. Exercise combined with medication can help keep you mobile for a long time.
Speech therapy is also a good resource. As many PD patients begin to have swallowing problems (as well as speech problems), regular visits with a speech therapist can lessen swallowing problems and keep your voice/speech tuned up.
Cognitive problems can be best helped with social interaction. Group exercises and other social connections are very important. Isolation is a detrminent to neurological problems.
You can find group exercises for PD as well as speech exercises on YouTube. This will help you get started.
What are your most troublesome PD symptoms right now? What types of medications and therapies have been suggested? Have you had a referral for any physical or speech therapy?