ASSISTIVE DEVICES FOR DIFFICULTY Getting Up and Down

    

    I am having so much difficulty getting up and down from chairs, toilets, couches, beds, etc.  It is not easy getting down but getting up is terrible and it is becoming more and more difficult.  I have to pull and push and grab onto something to get up.  The lower the seat, the more difficult it is to get up. Sometimes I wonder whether or not I'll be able to get up. If I am on the floor, I have to crawl over to a heavy piece of furniture  and grab on to it and try to pull myself up! In bed I sort of have to roll over to the edge of the bed and lie on my stomach and then push myself backwards, then turn around and get up.  It is an ordeal! I may have to get one of the lift chairs if I keep getting worse.

I know that my friend with PD had a bed that inclined and moved up and down and that really helped her.  It reminded me of a hospital bed but it was a double size.     

I have been looking at some chair lifts and I think I will look into purchasing one.  I was chatting with my friend Hans who also has PD.  I told him that people with money/celebrity would have more access to better treatment. He disagreed saying that if it were true, they would be getting better. I still think that we don't know how much worse they would be without their money/celebrity..  They don't have to worry about the cost of airfare to go to get cutting edge treatments/clinical trials.  But I do agree with him that they are not getting better.  I am thinking that perhaps Ozzy Osbourne's celebrity could help with more research, especially if they set up a site for donations.  Michael J Fox has truly been a champion of PD research.  I think I learned more about PD from him than I ever knew even long before I was diagnosed!
  It seems like there are many  useful Assistive devices for people with PD or MS.  I didn't realize how many until I started researching the topic.  Moving around and/or getting up and down can be very challenging for PD patients. Everyone is aware of canes and walkers.  They certainly can help decrease our risks of falling.  I had fallen about three times last year.  Now I keep my walker right next to my bed because I am more likely to fall when I am sleepy.  Shower bars and bathroom bars make life much easier.  I didn't realize there were so many different types of chairs that can help people get up and down.  I don't have tremors or shaking yet because I am in the early stages of  PD. I was thinking that an electric toothbrush would probably be helpful for those suffering with shaking and/or tremors. There are even pens that help people with PD to write more legibly.

My handwriting looks like chicken scratch right now. Thank goodness for the computer!! I may invest in one of these pens!  I had never thought that i would get a Parkinson's diagnosis.  I wasn't surprised when I had a cancer diagnosis years ago because so many people in my family have had cancer.  The PD diagnosis came as a complete shock!!

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