Fighting Parkinson’s, and fatigue

Today, I am ten months symptom free from Parkinson’s. As you know, fighting Parkinson’s without medications was a long, hard process. After my last post regarding medications, I have received very informative emails from sufferers who are fighting Parkinson’s and are taking medications, and their experiences have not been a walk in the park, either. Many started the three recommended exercises and are finding themselves fatigued. Alas, a common ground.

I went back to my Parkinson’s daily journal, and here are excerpts of what I found:

September 29, 2009 (first day after putting plan together): “Performed Medical Qigong for Liver (suggested 10 repetitions, I could do 4 only). Took 20 minutes. I am dizzy and my legs ache. I cannot stop sweating. Need to take a break….”

September 30, 2009 (the next day): “Got up at 4. This is my worst day so far. Hard to get off of the bed and whole body is tight and aching. Hard to get dressed. Hard to get downstairs. I follow the same routine every morning — out of bed, get dressed, go downstairs, use the bathroom and put in contacts, go to the kitchen and turn on the espresso machine. I look at the clock as the machine takes 10 minutes to warm up. Every day the clock shows 4:04 or 4:05. Today it showed 4:08. I am hopeful that the slowdown is a result of the Qigong performed yesterday. I have found that releasing toxins always makes me worse before I get better. I can only hope that this will be the same….”

October 1, 2009 (day 3): “After the liver Qigong, I stand straighter and feel physically exhausted but stimulated at the same time. I get a lot of tingling inside my head and my brain aches. I feel like the Parkinson’s fights me back. However, I am very patient and intend on winning. ”

October 4, 2009 (day 6): “I did the liver Qigong and it energized me for an hour….”

Here is how I feel about what I experienced and what some of you are telling me you are experiencing. Whenever I start a new Qigong exercise, it will inevitably involve some slow movement, some stretching, and some deep breathing. I feel that these types of “new” activities initially fatigue my body because they are making my body do things it has not been doing and they are shaking up toxins. Unfortunately, the toxins will have to enter the body, make me feel not so good, and then be eliminated from the body.

This why when people start doing the Qigong and say to me, “I am feeling fatigued” or “I am feeling a little dizzy” or “I am feeling a little pain,” my general response is “Good for you.” I am hopeful that you now can understand that “Good for you” is because I am excited about your progress.

I am not in your body, but from what people have been writing and telling me over the last few days, they are experiencing what I was experiencing as is documented in my Parkinson’s daily journal from 18 months ago. It took me 6 days to go from “Took 20 minutes. I am dizzy and my legs ache. I cannot stop sweating. Need to take a break….” to “I did the liver Qigong and it energized me for an hour….” Believe in yourself and do not lose faith in yourself.

All my best,

Howard