POSITIVE with PARKINSONS

         I love this song by the Canadian Tenors. I am posting an uplifting song everyday until Christmas.  I know that music always makes me feel better so I hope it does the same for  my readers!         When I got up this morning, my Sciatica pain was the same as before. I think i have really stubborn hard core Sciatica and maybe i need more laser treatments than others. The day I get the treatment, I don't feel any different but I usually feel a little better the next day! I don't get another treatment  until Monday. I think I need to make sure that I schedule 3 treatments per week!          My sleep schedule is just crazy since I have been diagnosed with Parkinson's. It seems that I need less sleep which is OK. However, I rarely get  a long stretch of sleep. I don't go to bed at night until 2 a m and then I get up about 8:30 but my sleep was restless and interrupted for most of the night. ...

From now until Christmas I am going to start my blog with an uplifting song.   This song is the Osmond Family "I believe."   I found this article online and I can easily relate to it. It is so frustrating to not be able to do small things. I try to get out all the ingredients I need when I am baking or preparing any meal.  When I am baking and forget to get out one of the ingredients, it is such an effort to go and get what I need!! And clean-up is such a difficult and complicated thing to do!! Now when I shop,I buy prepared and/or cooked food. It is just so much easier to buy cooked food.   I also definitely have the shaking tremors inside my body and they are quite annoying and were scary at first! I definitely had Parkinson's for about a year before I was diagnosed!!  My family doctor kept telling me that he didn't think I had Parkinson's and I did have it! I definitely have ups and downs and have depression from this disease. My disease is ...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!          Yesterday I had another cold laser treatment. I think my sciatica is a bit better and I really hope it stays this way or improves!! I am probably a 7 on  a pain scale of 1-10. I am usually an 8-9 on any given day so this is HUGE progress for me! I really want to be  able to stand in the shower. Right now i have to use a shower chair!!          Today I made two more cookie dough logs for spritz cookies. I made one red dough and one green dough. I was able to stand the entire time and i have NOT been able to do that for almost a year! I stopped in CVS on the way home from my laser treatment and I  purchased a bag of mini M&Ms to make cookies with!!         I give each of the girls $100 to buy what they want for Christmas, they have to give the items to me to wrap and they get them back as Christmas gifts. Olya went shopping with her girlfriend Lily today and s...

        OK people, this is BIG news!! My sciatica pain is a little less today! I hope it is not a fluke and is all due to the cold laser treatments that I have been getting. I am still in a lot of pain but it is a little less. On a scale of 1 to 10, my pain level is about an 8 -9. But today I would say it is a 7-7.5.  And when you suffer with Sciatica, any little bit of relief is a HUGE deal!!!  I would love to get to a 6!! Today is a good day for me, pain- wise! I had a  laser treatment yesterday but I still had the same amount of pain, I still had the same amount of pain this morning but as the day wore on, i felt a change!!!! I am excited to get another treatment tomorrow!  Tomorrow will number 8 I think. I had two treatments at my girlfriend's house by the doctor who works for the laser company and I think I have had 6 or 7 from the PT office that I go to.         I met my girlfriend Deb for lunch today.  She is so...

        I really had thought that my Sciatica pain was waning. But I now know that the pain was waning a bit because I had been taking Tylenol all day due to a severe headache! The headache is gone but the Sciatica pain is here! I was so hoping that I was on a tract to pain reduction. My Parkinson's is just  acting weird, that is the only word I can think of to describe it.    I am having so much trouble getting up from the couch, even when my meds are in my system and being taken at the correct times.   I actually have to bounce up and down a few times and then grab onto the coffee table to get up from the couch. I guess these means that my disease is progressing. I don't know why I am surprised, it is a progressive movement disorder disease.  I am not really shuffling because I need to use my walker or hold onto something when I am walking.         Yesterday we went to see Frozen II for my birthday celebration. The...

        Today for the first time in months, my Sciatica pain is a little less. I am hoping that it has to do with the laser treatments and that this is the beginning of something that is finally heading in the right direction!!!I also took a few Tylenol because I had a bad headache so tomorrow I will find out if my Sciatica pain was dulled from the Tylenol or not.  My Parkinson's however, went crazy today!  I kept falling and could barley walk without holding onto things and I even fell into the toilet when I was trying to sit down on it! Every once in awhile my Parkinson's seems to have a mind of its own and even the meds I take have no effect on my walking or my balance. And when Parkinson's decides to take total control, sometimes I just have to allow it to be in control and do what I can do and rest part of the day.           I don't know if it is because I am so sad that I didn't have the will power to fight with Parkinson's t...

   More Birthday Fun from my girlfriend Debbie!!   If I  win a big one, I' ll go pick her up and off to the casino we will go!   Today  I went for my third laser treatment this week.  I was in so much pain when I got up today!  I don't know why but I felt like my SI Joint was totally inflamed it as hot and burning and I had to use my walker to get to my car.  I just can't get a break.  I am considering giving up on the lasers because it is expensive and i don't see any improvement at all.  My Sciatica is so stubborn and doesn't seem to change.  Yesterday I had an appointment with my pain management doctor. I asked her if I could go on a low dose steroid because I felt so wonderful being on the Medrol  dose pack when I had a stress fracture in my foot. She gave me an ABSOLUTE NO to that plan. She said my spine would fall apart! She definitely DOES NOT believe in the laser treatments, she thinks they are a waste of ti...

        Today I woke up with a stuff neck! It is so painful that I forgot about my sciatica for a while. I took two Tylenol every few hours and maybe that is why my sciatica didn't bother me as much as it usually does.  I could feel the pain in my neck every time I moved! I didn't realize how much I move my head all day long until it was painful to do so. I got up at 7:30 because I had workers coming to clean my kitchen floor. I just can't do it any more!  They didn't get to my house until 9:30 because they are also working on my driveway and had to get filler and blacktop stuff!   I cleaned the kitchen while I waited for them. Tomorrow I just have to clean the family room and run my Roomba! My Parkinson's was definitely front and center, even with my stiff neck. I kept freezing in one spot and my  balance was way off!. It is really annoying to be cleaning a toilet and feeling  like you are going to fall into the bowl!! Yesterday I chatt...

               Yesterday I had to go see an eye surgeon about removing the cataract in my right eye. My retina specialist is also going to remove a wrinkle from my eye so I will have both surgeries done at once.  Dan went with me because the appointment was over an hour away.  First I was seen by the NP who went over my meds and physical/medical history. She read each med and said "you are taking this for"...and I said yes.  Then she said "I see that you are taking Carbidopa-Levodopa and I know that is used for off label uses. You don't have Parkinson's so why did your doctor prescribe it for you?" I told her that I did have Parkinson's!  She said...."are you sure, who diagnosed you?" I told her that I was absolutely sure and that the head of neurology diagnosed me and that I had gone for a second opinion and received the  same diagnosis. She just looked at me so strangely. Then she moved on but I felt like she kept...

        Today I had our monthly bereaved mom meeting in the morning.  A new mom came, she was so lovely.  She is in her late eighties and lost her 63 year old son to stomach cancer a year ago.  She was all dressed up and was so sweet and so nice.  She was supposed to come last month and never showed up so I assumed she wasn't interested but  she did come today.  We are going to do our annual candle lighting at the Dec. meeting.         After the meeting I headed to the PT to get a laser treatment. My sciatica is a bit better but I am still in severe pain.  Any degree of relief is helpful!! My girlfriend's BIL owns the laser company that the PT purchased her laser machine from. As she was doing the laser treatment, we chatted.  She told me about a patient that she had worked with for over a year and he had no relief. He had back surgeries and fusions. He lived in pain, barely slept and couldn't stand at...

        My sciatica pain is so much less than it has been.  My Sciatica started in April of 2018 and except for a day or two following cortisone injections, I have NOT had  much reprieve from pain.   I have tried physical therapy twice, many cortisone injections, acupuncture, medical marijuana, and the Hyperbaric Chamber.  My Sciatica is so stubborn, it just stayed and stayed.  There were days I just wanted to scream from the pain and stayed in bed or on the couch most of the day! The only thing that ever worked was when I broke my foot and the podiatrist gave me a  Medrol Dose pack and that had the secondary effect of having less sciatica pain. I was going to ask my pain management doc to put me on a low dose steroid daily to alleviate some of my Sciatica pain. I know it is not good to take steroids for a long time but I just want to get rid of my pain!           My girlfriend's BIL owns a laser compa...

          Yesterday I got a laser treatment from my girlfriend's brother-in-law's associate. His associate is a doctor.  Her BIL owns a laser company and was in town doing demonstrations and conferences for doctors, physical therapists and chiropractor! Yesterday I was in severe pain after the laser treatment. I wasn't sure that I wanted another treatment today.  But I felt sort of OK in the pain department this morning. I was overcome again with severe nausea so I  stayed in bed until about noon and then i got up, showered, and dressed.  I missed the speaker from my bereaved parent group. I really wanted to go but I just couldn't garner the strength.           Dan picked up my new nausea meds that my neurologist  called in.  This nausea medicine really worked!! It was much stronger than the meds my family doctor called in. He prescribed ONDANSETRON HCL 8 mg tablets.  They do a good job of getting rid ...

        Today I went to see my childhood friend Leslie.  Her brother-in-law owns a laser company and he was in town to do a few presentations with his friend who is a physician.  She invited me over because they were going to measure me for orthotics.  While I was there, the physician gave me a laser treatment with their newest machine!!  I was so excited because I will do ANYTHING to get rid of or lessen my sciatica pain.  These machines cost about $24,000!   I couldn't even feel the laser, it wasn't hot or cold.  I am going to tell my pain management doc about the laser, maybe she will be into buying one. I think more and more docs will start to use lasers.  Right now I think they are mainly used by chiropractors and some physical therapists.  I also got a laser treatment on my colon for my colitis and that worked wonderfully!!   Leslie has the cutest French Bull dog.  He has his own Instagram account!...

        THANK YOU to all of my readers who alerted me to the fact that REGLAN is a dangerous drug and should not ever be given to Parkinson's patients.  I called my family doctor and my neurologist and they both confirmed that REGLAN  should never have been given to me.  I thought it was a wonder drug and I am so glad that I mentioned it on my blog. I am extremely thankful that my loyal readers knew more about the drug than I knew.  My neurologist, in particular, was extremely upset that I was given REGLAN in the ER.  He works in one of the hospitals in that hospital system.  He is the head of neurology. He thinks the drug should be off the market and is dangerous for any patient for any reason. He told me that I should discard the remaining pills that I had left and to take the new meds that he called into my pharmacy.  He told me that he was going to call the ER and have a note put in my chart to never give that drug to me....