DBS Progress Report

I've officially been off most of my PD meds for over a week now.  Last week, the nurse who does the programming of my system, increased the voltages in my left side (right brain) and I was able to walk normally, with no meds.  I'm still noticing some occasional tremor, like while I'm typing, but I have had no meds for over a week.  I will continue to play with my voltages and meds to see if I can improve my symptoms some more, but is already having a dramatic effect.

Some improvements besides reduction in meds:

1. Walking - This is probably one of the most dramatic improvements.  I am walking relatively normally and even run as well.
2. Sleeping - This actually ranks up with walking.  I have been sleeping 7-8 hours straight through for the first time in years.
3. Bathroom urgency - Related to the sleeping, I can hold my bladder better and can sleep through the night as well.
4. Speech - While occasionally slurred when I'm tired, I and others have notice a less staccato method of talking and thoughts float off my tongue more clearly.
5. Tremor and dexterity - little or no off time.
6. Dyskinesia - gone when I don't take meds.

To put it bluntly, my surgery is working even better than I hoped.  Here's to it continuing.

Juice Fasting with Parkinson's Disease

Ok, that was hard and weird.  I did not make it the full three days. I did two days, and ate a couple of Avocados and Bananas during the fast as well, so not sure how much of a "fast" it actually was.  I'm a big guy (about 210 lbs) so, I get hungry.  Also, as my wife noted, I'm a snacker, so it took a lot to just get through those two days.

Nevertheless, I'm happy I did it because of what I noticed.  During the fast, especially the second day and the third day during which I actually did eat a bit, I noticed my meds were working really well and I seemed to be staying on longer.  In fact, yesterday (day 3), I extended my meds (Sinemet) so long, that I actually took only 8 pills instead of 9 during the day, and the last two were taken at least two hours after I would normally take my last dosage of the day.

So, the question is, what was this doing to my system that I could extend my meds for much longer periods of time.  A couple things come to mind.

1. Sinemet does not work well with protein, and the juice fast pretty much eliminates most proteins from your diet, at least proteins from animal sources.  The fact I was eating a lot less protein may have contributed to the effectiveness of my meds.  One caveat is that my wife is vegetarian, and we rarely eat meat in the house,. so unless it's dairy or soy, I don't get a lot of protein on a daily basis anyways.
2. Ridding my body of toxic food helped me reset some of my synapses and effectively improved my reactions to my medications.  This one is a who knows?
3. Similar to number 2, but coming from the opposite end, eating a lot of fruits and vegetables in the form of juice helps your body absorb and use the medications more effectively.  I mean the amount of fruits and vegetables I ate in those two days was huge, compared any other day, hell week, over the past couple of years.

While, I have no evidence other then basically how I felt and what my reactions were, it gives me somewhere /something to look into further.  I plan no trying to just skip a few meals a week next week during working hours and drink juices instead.  I want to see if that will have a similar effect on my med schedule and general overall well being.  Other than being hungry and missing the act of eating, I'd say it was pretty successful and I look forward to some more self-experimentation.

One note:  I am not a doctor, I am not recommending this to anyone.  If you do begin a fast, note that you probably should see your doctor before hand.  Nevertheless, if you do try it, please let me know how it went and what if any observations you make.

Week 6, Day 2 - Couch to 5K

Actually restarted week 6 this week, as I only ran once last week.  Day 1 sucked, but today's day 2 run was really good at the end.  The run consisted of a 5 minute warm-up, two 10 minute runs with a 3 minute walk break in between and a 5 minute cool-down.  I have not been feeling the runs very well these past few weeks; however, today with about 5 minutes left in the second 10 minutes felt awesome.  My meds kicked in and I felt my stride not only lengthen but increase in pace.  So, my last five minutes of running were also quickest five minutes of the entire run, although I don't have a Garmin and hate running with my phone, so I don't know by how much.

From now on, the runs are just increasing in length of time, but are constant runs.  I'll have to see how that goes and whether I want to just switch to music or other podcasts or books or continue using the NHS Couch to 5K podcast until I'm done.  I am also now trying to decide whether I should keep at the 5K distance for a bit, try a 10K training program, or a half marathon training program.  Thoughts and suggestions are always appreciated.

Day 1 Week 3, Couch to 5K

Second run in a row that I wasn't feeling it, at least until the last cool down when my arm swing came back after my meds started to kick in.  I did run the whole series that I was supposed to and could tell that I've increased my distance running since I am getting towards the house sooner and have a shorter cool down before I reach my house.  I am not focusing on time at all right now, but my goal is to run a 5k in less than 30 minutes.  I've never done an official race where I've done that and think it would be pretty good to get a PR like that six years after being diagnosed.

One thing I believe those without PD would probably find pretty odd is how I, and possibly others with PD, regard my symptoms as indicators of my current medication state (on/off periods).  It's difficult to describe the feeling I get when I realize my meds have just kicked in.  Whenever the realization occurs, I get a smile on my face and I feel almost euphoric.  A calm settles over me; yet, I feel so much stronger.  When it happened at work the other day, I found myself speeding down a hall and colleague commenting on how fast I was walking.  I replied that when I can walk quickly, I take advantage of it.

The idea of walking fast, somehow reminded me of the song Fast Cars by Tracy Chapman, which reminded me of one of my favorite bands of the early 90s Living Colour who did a cover of another Tracy Chapman song.  This lead to a google search which revealed this, from one of the great TV shows of the 90s.

Day 2 Week 2, Couch to 5K

This was my worst run so far.  Interestingly, when my meds have not kicked in, I have noticed that I run much better than I walk.  In fact, while at work, if I'm feeling a bit off, I might go run or jog down the hall to get myself going and my arms swinging.  Unfortunately, this was not the case today.

I am getting up before the family to do these runs (about 5:45 am).  I take my meds, squeeze a couple shots out of my new inhaler, turn on the iPod and go.  Up until today, when I start running after the 5 minute "brisk" walk, I have felt great.  Today, that feeling never kicked in.  In fact, I really did not feel my meds kick in until after my shower and as I was leaving to drop my son off at school.

Nevertheless, I did the entire run and am glad I did.  I know I'll have good days and bad days, you just have to roll with it.  And to those who don't get what I mean when a Parkinson's patient is discussing on/off periods of medications: