A sweet example of never giving up..
https://www.facebook.com/aimediaAUS/videos/321686368389621/?t=48
Although the video clip is an example of a dog showing patience, we all need to be more patient… with ourselves
But the rewards of our patient, consistent efforts [with the Lord’s help] can be very exhilarating.
I just keep learning. When I make my celery juice, I add some blueberries. They make it very palatable. 🙂
Both movement disorder neurologists I’ve seen indicated … although not enough data has been gathered, to allow them to prescribe infrared therapy, they had heard some positive feedback and encouraged me to “feel free to try it.”
We read the claims:
“Infrared sauna surrounds you and penetrates deeply into your joints, muscles and tissues increasing oxygen flow and circulation.”
“Helps to remove impurities from your cells, specifically the cells inside our fat where our body stores waste and harmful toxins such as cholesterol and heavy metals.”
“As your body increases sweat production to cool itself, your heart works harder to pump blood at a greater rate to boost circulation. This increase in your metabolism will burn calories.”
“Infrared sauna therapy can help keep blood pressure within healthy levels, lower cholesterol, reduce chronic pain and be of therapeutic value to patients with chronic congestive heart disease.”
“In animal models of Parkinson’s, near infrared treatment has been shown to rescue dopaminergic neurons, … In addition, near infrared light treatment corrects the abnormal firing activity of neurons in deep subthalamic brain regions that occurs in parkinsonian conditions. Various animal models of Parkinson’s disease shown improved motor control and locomotor activity, as measured by both mobility and velocity, after near infrared is applied.”
We tried the infrared sauna at the gym. Although our insurance provides a membership at no additional expense to us, there were draw backs. We had no control over the temperature. If we went in the morning, it wasn’t warm enough to produce any sweat. It was twenty minute drive each way for 20 minutes of heat. John is waiting for the VA to schedule hip surgery, so if my chauffeur didn’t feel like exercising, it was just shower and go home.
So, because I intend to leave no clue uninvestigated… we set up our two person Infrared Sauna into a sweet place in John’s workshop. It also has
Chromotherapy, also called color light therapy, which is the process of restoring balance to the body by applying color.
When a doctor evaluates a person with Parkinsonian symptoms, they ask questions to evaluate the person’s mental health; to determine if we are experiencing a loss of ability to think, remember or reason and confirm we are are in touch with reality. Don’t let them intimidate you.
Redefine yourself, if you don’t already know… You are literally a spiritual child of a loving Heavenly Father. Thank Him for each day.. and pray:
“Lord, help me be the kind of person, who, when their feet hit the floor each morning, the Devil says, Oh, NO! they are up!”
AND then seek to do something nice for someone else.
“When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God” (Mosiah 2:17).
John & I have shared housing accommodations with a daughter, Emily and her five children for the past couple years as my Parkinson’s symptoms have become more pronounced. The seventeen year old, Megan, has been aware and come to my rescue when I lost my balance in the pool, needed help to carry things, open doors or bottles, etc… She also, kindly, lets me know when I have food on my chin. 🙂
I knew it takes me a long time to eat, but I guess I thought it was just a chewing and swallowing issue, until Megan observed… “Look, grandma is eating like a sloth!” At that point, I realized how slowly I was moving the fork toward my mouth. I had to laugh.
Emily’s children know she likes Sloths so they have gifted her with a ‘sloth shirt’ and stuffed plush sloths. So when she was showing me her collection of Valentine Sloths, naming them off…Here is the daddy, the mommy, the baby… I said “And you have ME” 🙂
Yes, they have me… and I have them.. my family are my tribe… my wolfpack… my Valentines
Slothful mean not easily aroused to activity. .. lazy, suggests a disinclination to work or to take trouble to do anything.. Apathy seems to fit here. A slothful person doesn’t have a claim on a good work ethic.
On Valentines Day, 2019, I have an appointment to have my condition evaluated at the University of Florida Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration Fixel Center. To demonstrate MY good work ethic I have compiled a list of questions I hope to ask.
I’ll try to not drop the ball… and report back on the feedback I receive.
You may observe the pile of nutritional supplements. What I have in the mug is what I call my orange creamsicle. My substitute for applesauce, which is generally considered the ‘go-to-medium’, for aiding a challenged person to swallow their pills, but is too high in sugars for the keto diet.
I start with 3/4 Cup Alkaline filtered water, add 25 drops of 35% food Grade Hydrogrn Peroxide and 16 drops of Amino Acids. Then I stir in two heaping teaspoons of a sugar free orange flavored fiber and add 1/4 C. heavy whipping cream. HONESTLY.. it tastes like a creamsicle. I then take my supplements quickly, because it thickens so quickly I have to finish it with a spoon.
On 9/14, I began the protocol for oxygen therapy. I plan to re-evaluate around the end of April 2019.
Today, I want to share information on two of the tools I use daily. Both were gifted to me by the #2 leader of my pack.. my twin sister, Cheryl. She is certified to provide a therapy called Zone Restoration. Since she lives in Idaho, and I live in Florida, she typed; “I can’t ZONE your feet… so the closest thing I know is Reflexology.” So she sent me Reflexology insoles. [I’ll post more about that later] I slipped the insoles into some red slippers I received this past Christmas and wear them every time I use my Whole Body Vibration machine.
After John & I moved to Florida, and I’d shared some of my quandry over my baffling symptoms, Cheryl surprised me with a WBV. I’d seen the literature and claims … and desired to test it. I went to youtube to learn how other people use theirs and learned that different benefits are associated with the variation of vibration speed. Lower speeds are best for exercise and higher speeds don’t give muscles time to react, but are great for stimulating the lymph system. I even found examples from giving yourself a facial to doing the Kegel exercise.
The recommendation is to not use it for more than 10 minutes at a time. When I did my first set [while John ( my #1 leader of the pack) was fixing our breakfast]… I did two sets of 20 deep squats & two sets of 20 high knee lifts, followed by approx 5 minutes of posture holds (the first two as taught in this youtube) 3 posture For all of that, I have the vibrations set at about 12. Then I ramp up the vibrations up to 70 for the last two minutes to free up any sluggishness in my lymph system.
The first visit I had with my Movement Disorders specialiat, I came away with a referral to a speech therapist. There I learned about LSVT . I Had no idea how soft my voice had gotten, and learned a great deal from my visits. . https://parkinsonsdisease.net/living-with-pd/voice-exercises/
The next time I step onto my WBV with my red slippers, today, I will do my exercises I learned from my speech therapist. I like to multi-task so I decided to attempt to add a challenge to memorize what I am shouting. So I enlarged a copy of The Relief Society Declaration,and posted it on the mirror, so I can read it with my Prism glasses. [That is a story for another day.]
The Relief Society is the women’s organization formed by members of . . The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints
After I have ‘Shout/recited’ the declaration, I proceed to do facial exercises to target my drooling and Parkinson’s Facial Mask. These are done at 12 on the WBV. Facial (improve drooling, chewing food) Then I crank it up to 70 for the last 2 or 3 minutes.
Whew!! It took me a lot longer than 20 minutes, to type how I use 20 minutes of my day for exercise
Standing up to Parkinson's 