Social Isolation Hack #1: Changing Your (Virtual) Scenery
Today’s headlines affirm many of us are hitting a social isolation wall, and we all have reason to fear a group charge into the virus-infected wild for a change of scenery (and maybe a bacon cheeseburger). Before you go full Butch & Sundance, maybe decorating your virtual space in...
Fighting Parkinson’s in Isolation
As the world hunkers down for a long battle with the Coronavirus, isolation will become an issue for everybody, and it will be particularly impactful on people with Parkinson’s disease (PD). In this post, I will offer suggestions for maintaining a proactive, hopeful approach to fighting PD in this...
Turn, Turn, Turn: The PD Gladiators Story and a Time for Reinvention
I have not posted in this space in over six years, but in my fourth season of reinvention (see sidebar) I’m re-purposing my blog. Now entitled Shaking The Chi, it will serve as an incubator for high impact solutions to complex social problems, with a particular focus on issues...
The Very Real Cost of Denial, Apathy and Complacency: Don’t Wait for the (Sinemet) Honeymoon to be Over!
This post was originally published in the PD Gladiators newsletter. When you’re first diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, it’s typical to go through the stages of grief. Without counseling, many view the diagnosis as a death sentence, with nothing to do but take medicine to mask the symptoms until the...
If We Build It, Will They Come? Part II
This post was originally posted on the PD Gladiators blog. In Part I of this post I suggested that the Parkinson’s community needs to build an exercise infrastructure in order to coax the secluded majority of people with Parkinson’s to join the community and participate in exercise programs, physical...
If We Build It, Will They Come? Part I
This post was originally published in the PD Gladiators blog. Ellie and I attended the Southeastern Parkinson’s Conference hosted by the National Parkinson’s Foundation in August, and for the second year in a row we left inspired. The theme of the conference was Parkinson’s advocacy, and we were encouraged...
(The Beginning of) My Parkinson’s Journey
A version of this post was originally published on the PD Gladiators blog. Minor details have been edited. The journey with Parkinson’s can be a long and frustrating one, but hang in, there are many things you can do to improve your quality of life. One thing that has made a big impact in my life is exercise,...