Hello. I was wondering how exercise affects other people with PD. I have read that it is important for people with PD to exercise and my doctor continues to encourage me to do so, but I am always much more symptomatic after I exercise. When I exercise in the morning, I am pretty much off for the rest of the day even with meds. I am 21 and want to keep in shape, but I am finding it increasingly difficult to do. Sorry if this is not an appropriate post. Thank you for your time.

Hi,

Have a look at this :

http://forums.braintalk2.org/showthread.php?t=1462
"Everyone talks about it"

You raise a problem that I experience though I don't have PD (I have chronic fatigue) : when I exercise in the morning, I can feel exhausted all day, have to sleep to recover. But it is not systematic. The non-systematic and unpredictible pattern of my fatigue makes it hard for me to hold a schedule like "I will have exercise from X o'clock to Z o'clock". The advice I got was to have a quarter fom time to time rather than half an hour and yes, it doesn't wear me off. But I forget...

Ok, it's not like I don't get any exercise at all : I live in the woods and often go for walks, I have the housework and often do it while dancing, singing and playing music to boost me.

Greetings
Karine

Welcome Alstro..That is definately an appropriate question..I dont exercise, but I engage in alot of physical activity from time to time, and it does make me more syptomatic afterward, and fatigued..But I have noticed that it does make me stronger, and after a peroid of time I dont get AS symptomatic..I do however notice that shortly after I rest on my laurels its back to square one, and if I dont engage in physical activities at all, then doing simply daily chores get to be a major production..There is alot of benefit from exercise for those of us who can exercise, and if nothing else it is one of the many simple ways of putting up a fight against the disease

One of the problems Ive had with pd is I have been vulnreable to this "lack of motivation" mode, and for me if I allow it to get the best of me it will destroy me physically and emotionally, and what begins to happen is that my world no longer consists of me and all this things I love about life..It consists of me and my illness, and this is bad..This is not an uncommon problem amongst us parkies..This lack of motivation is a form of pd related depression, and those of us who suffer from it have to be on our guard..When I find myself sitting in front of either the TV or the computer all day when I have other things that I should be doing, that I am perfectly capable of doing..then I have to recognize and confront these behaviors, because thats how it starts for me, and it will continue untill nothing whatsoever is getting done over long stretches of time..Ive done things like wash a load of clothes and leave them in the dryer for 3 days because I have to go down the cellar stairs..unload the dryer..and climb back up the stairs with the load of clothes, and then I have to fold them which is hard but not impossible because my right hand doesnt have much of the needed movement or coordination to perform this simple task..Then Oh My God!..Now I have to put them away....Sounds trivial, but sometimes this is a major crisis for me when Im caught up in this lack of motivation mode

My point is, that this is one of the reasons why execise can be beneficial to us..Its not only about stretching the limbs and muscles, and staying somewhat in physical shape..It contributes to emotional well being too

21? Wow, sorry to hear that.

I am the opposite when it comes to exercise. If I don't work out, then I feel more tired and lethargic throughout the day. I need to work out every day in order to function. I do light weight lifting, stretching, yoga, and other activities.

There are some important things to remember. Be sure you're hydrated before working out. Eat something small, like a banana, before working out. Hydrate through your workout. If you feel dizzy or lightheaded, stop or slow your routine. After working out, eat or drink a little protein. (I do fruit smoothies with protein powder.) Change up your routine. Legs one day, arms one day, aerobics the next day. Always stretch before and after. And add some variety. Take walks outside. Shoot some hoops. Ride a bike.

Exercise is good for you whether you have PD or not. And a good diet is just as critical. I know sometimes it's hard to get motivated when you don't feel all that great. And if you haven't worked out in quite some time, then it's more difficult to start, both physically and emotionally. Like they say, always talk to your doctor before staring any exercise program. But I'm a firm believer that the less you do, the worse you'll feel. But the more you do, while you may feel bad at first, eventually you'll start to reap the benefits of being in shape. And we need all the help we can get while fighting this disease. Good luck!

Todd
PDTalks.com

Hi! I do try to walk 20 minutes every other day. Well, really, I try to do it every day, but only manage about every other day. I do adjust my walking depending on what my work day is like - if it's going to be a physical day, forget it! I'll be wiped out! But, as has already been said, if I keep it up for a couple of weeks I get stronger. If I stop for, say, the summer (oops! I stopped for the summer!) I do drag. But for me, it's worth going through the icky first couple of weeks to get to the feeling good part. I also was diagnosed with hypothyroid, so gain weight by looking at food just about! So moderate excercise is needed, whether I like it or not.
Mouse

I agree. The best thing one can do is exercise. Stretching,resistance training,something aerobic(walking,running,cycling,hiking). This all helps with cardio vascular,PD symptoms , cognative function and it just makes me feel better. Also seems to make meds work better and require less meds. There is alot of research going on in this area right now.
An excerise program can have an immediate impact on your quality of life.
Like Todd I do something ever day. Just makes me feel better in general.
If you start a program start slow and build on it.

Any deliberate, repetitive activity - including exercise - sets me back for hours. I was 48 at dx in 1999 and had diagnosable symptoms at least 10 years prior but my doc kept suggesting I had MS for those years. He kept telling me I had to exercise so I began a serious exercise program in 1997; when I was finally dx with PD I had a severe tremor in three of my four limbs, was so rigid and stiff I could barely move, and dystonia in my right foot that was dibiliating along with the myriad of other PD symptoms. Within weeks of my dx I hired a "personal trainer" who came to my home three times a week - I had to crawl my way to my bed after each session. My neurologist recently explained that I fall into a small subset of PDer's who, for whatever reason, physical activity negates the benefit of medication leaving me unmedicated - I assumed exercise just used up my available dopamine but I guess the problem is in my body using up the Sinemet before it can reach the brain.........playing catch-up on dopamine takes time. An unusually, busy, hectic few days will leave me in an "off" state for an entire day or two.

That being said I know that the old saying of "use it or lose it" is a true statement and I do try to walk at least 20 minutes a day. PD is not for wimps.

Exercise, definitely exercise.

I think that exercise is what has kept me relatively stable for the last two years. I work out three or four times per week, 35-45 minutes, mostly vigorous cardio, and some weight training.

This is something that I started - well, my wife got me to start - about 2-1/2 years ago, and I've kept it up since. I hadn't been diagnosed yet, but there was one day in which various odd things that I had noticed for several years all came together at the same time. We went on line and looked at all the various things that had tremors as one of the symptoms, and they all said, "Exercise helps!" (Also looked at the whole list of Parkinson's symptoms, and we said to each other ,"Uh-oh, this doesn't look good.") My wife went out the next day and got us both memberships in a gym.

There were several weeks of MRI's and neurologist visits, and a steady increase in symtoms, before a diagnosis was made. Since then, after having had that one-weekend severe increase in symptoms, and getting stabilized on a given set of meds, I have required very little modification or increase in medications. Now, I know that it is partially due to the perverse nature of PD that things have stayed stable, but am just as certain that the exercise has made a big difference in slowing it down.

One thing that I do is exercise in the evening, after work, instead of in the morning. I also found that the morning was far too tiring, and I ended up sleeping it off for the rest of the morning.

So, go to it, and good luck to you. At 21, you've got a long uphill row to hoe, and might as well do all you can to cut the hill down to size.

Hello Alstor,
If you have PD, exercise is probably one of the most important things for you after proper food consumption.
I was an athlete (gymnast) and have worked out all my life, and when PD hit me at 53, it became more and more difficult to move, run, walk etc. My right hand is shutting down slowly but surely, but I find that no matter how much this condition, PD, makes you feel like not doing anything, working through it always feels better than giving in and not doing anything. It really is a mind over matter thing... PD doesn't kill, what PD discourages you from doing will kill you, and that is using your body... Medicine as it is today, does not cure PD, but masks it at best and is addictive at worst... Unfortunately, unpleasantly true... I am staying away from any medicine as long as I can. I get massages from my wife when my muscle spams, cramps are severe, and I stretch like an athlete gymnast, which helps a lot... I work on controlling my thoughts because bad thoughts depress dopamine production... I work on controling my drive, because over drive produces too much adrenaline which also suppresses domine production... It is a hard balancing act to learn... I have not started acupuncture but do receive acpressure, which seems to calm down my tremors...
To sum it up, you have to think like and become a kind of health athlete, because until anyone gets a handle on PD, the medicine could be worse than the cure...
Alagna.
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At the Seattle HOPE conference, Dr Becky Farley & Dr Cynthia Fox of LSVT-MOVE BIG & LOUD showed an example of two sets of monkeys:

(1) one set that did NOT exercise - just sat and watched

(2) one set exercised daily

When both sets got parkinson's symptoms, they did brain scans of both sets of monkeys:

(a) set #1 showed brain damage

(b) set #2 showed NO brain damage!

You can see this presentation on line at the nwpf website:

www.nwpf.org/presentations.aspx