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Old 01-16-2011, 05:10 PM
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indigogo indigogo is offline
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indigogo indigogo is offline
Senior Member
indigogo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: "all the way over on the West Coast"
Posts: 1,032
15 yr Member
Default whatever works

Quote:
Originally Posted by lindylanka View Post
That 'struggle more physically and financially' is also one of the things that limits choice for different forms of treatment - unless you have invested wisely in good friendships and are able to trade 'skills' it may be an impossibility to access daily massage, or physical therapy, or things like classes in yoga, tai chi etc. the wherewithal may simply not be there......

There are aspects taking charge of one's condition, or rather, being encouraged to do so that can make me uncomfortable. The notion that dis-ease is about an individual having not done the right things in their life, and being able to 'cure' their self is great when it works, and perhaps some do keep the faith, and find they are improved beyond belief, but that is not always so.

A dear friend, in her last two years of cancer which she had fought valiantly, was persuaded that she could 'cure' herself if she did the right things; a mother of young children she was desperate for a cure, and went a very long way down this route. With a lot of effort, hope, and help from family and friends. Following a visit to her therapist she was injured badly when a car collided with hers on his driveway. He neither came out to see how she was, or contacted her to enquire how she was, and in the weeks that followed distanced himself from her completely. She was found on x-ray to have developed metastases in her bones, and the ones that were broken quickly became a focus of the cancer, she never recovered.

It made me think a heck of a lot about the complexities of health, wellness, and disease. Some who had faith in the therapies and the therapist said perhaps she did not have enough faith...... I thought she had bucket loads, she fought all the way.... Did it give her hope for a while, yes, did it cure her, no.

We are not always the authors of our fate. There would be no such thing as doctors if it were not so......
Lindy - so true. We all have our individual stories. I have given up and abandoned a lot to achieve a place of relative peace. But -- I still turn towards doctors. For the first time in more than a decade I had a complete medical exam with a primary care physician, not a neuro - just this week. Turns out my vitamin D level is 7 - incredible! - the usual "low" is 10-12 - so I'm off the charts low. I am so excited to start building my supply, to see if it will improve, well, everything! So while I believe that attitude, open mind, experimentation are a huge part of living with PD, I also have faith in the science. Not mutually exclusive; just well rounded. I want to be better - I BELIEVE I can be better - I will listen to everyone; exclude what sounds wrong; include what seems right - after all, we are only trying to feel better - and, right now, our docs can do no better. I am ready to pray at the shrine of the French nun and endure the exercise while keeping my sinemet, requip and amantadine at a minimum - but not giving up on them altogether.

No one - NO ONE - truly understands PD. Not your doctor, nor any scientist. They are working hard to do so - I have absolute faith in that - but until then (the Fox PPMI biomarker study is crucial), I have just as much faith in myself.
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"Thanks for this!" says:
Conductor71 (02-02-2011), lindylanka (01-17-2011)