Well said Laura. That would be the holy grail for me; over coming the brain disconnect, The whole matter is fascinating, FOr example if I reach out for an apple in a bowl on the counter I may move quite slowly. But if that same apple rolls off the edge of the counter I can, and have, as a matter of reflexes very quickly grabbed the apple in-mid fall. Shall I assume two different regions of the brain? If so can the other region be put into use? I dont know. That is beyond my pay grade

We tend to think of signals from the brain out to the toe ordering "wiggle, wiggle, wiggle" as being the crux of the matter. Is anyone surprised that it is more complicated than that? Grossly over simplified, there are two circuits involved. One carries the order "Move" from brain to toe pretty much as imagined. But first there is a conversation along the lines of, "Yo! Toe? Where are you?", with a reply, "Over here, Bro!" This locational data is quickly processed and again the "Move!" signal goes out only now it has "To the right two inches" appended to it. Once the move is made the conversation continues to confirm the new position.

which has absolutely nothing to do with the same action only as a reflex. but thanks for dumbing down the dicussion

For me, it seems more like a heaviness, not weakness. Self- imposed stretching of my body to it's limit releases it and my limbs feel lighter and more able to move. The addition of l-dopa then makes my movement fluid instead of "off beat" . My one leg has a hesitation if my l-dopa level is too low (also the left arm stops swinging)...but a firm tight stretch of the arm can also reactivate the swing before I take tincture. Wish I could make a video of great stretches to do...I know they would help you all so much

I too ould like to confirm that any muscle loss comes from lack of exercise, but is not wasting, I have known people with wasting, and it is very visibly present. I had some years ago an almost identical experience to Michaels only with a mostly full glass of water, and I moved fast.like really fast. and there have been a few odd ones since, but I am mainly very slow. I was talking to another PWP only yesterday about this, she is very interested in the way PD plays out in our bodies, and our brains, but mostly at the juncture where movement stops being smooth, which I cannot always feel.

She believes that PD is as much a perceptual condition as it is anything else. We were discussing freezing as opposed to its opposite, the sudden paradoxical ability to move super fast. She also knew exactly what different systems kick in under different circumstances. I think what we were discussing has an analogy to many different circuits that overlap and interact when normal, but in PD they become more synchronised than they should be.

I shall have to see if she has this stuff written down, because I was fascinated.It seemed to explain why meds get me some of the way but they won't get me all of the way.