It's less than a month until my 60th birthday and I am finding the benefits of having Parkingson's Disease and getting older. Parkinson's Disease has benefits? It all depends upon how you look at things.
I was first diagnosed about 18 years ago when I was 42 years old and my daughter was still in elementary school. Eighteen years ago most people did not believe that you could have Parkinson's Disease. This was before Michael J. Fox made the news as a Parkinson's patient. I was fortunate that the neurologist I went to was not afraid to make the diagnosis for someone my age. He started me on medications and my life changed.
I was also fortunate that I had a quad amputee as a brother-in-law. Rod's attitude was a great inspiration for me. His outlook was simple. Nothing could change the fact that he was a quad amputee. That would never change. All the whining and feeling sorry for yourself would never alter the facts. That famous bumper sticker in Forrest Gump says it all - shit happens. Its a fact of life. The only thing that can hold you back is yourself and your outlook on life. With that in mind I decided to just live with the problem and work around it. With time it became easier and there were often days that I would forget that I even had a problem. (I have always been good at being able to put unpleasant things out of my mind, which is not always a good thing and is probably the root of procrastination.)
I continued working for another 15 years. The biggest problem I seemed to have was getting tired. I think that my body just used up my energy reserves in my efforts to overcome the tremors and carry on as normal. The symptoms only became really noticeable when I was tired. Over the years the neurologist would occasionally change and adjust the medications.as the energy levels waned and the tremors increased. It gradually started affect me at my job. One of the better medications was Mirapex (pramiprexole). The side effects of the drug started causing different problems and I occasionally had diifculties with sudden sleep onset. I would become unbearably sleepy at work in the afternoons. At this time I decided to make a big change in my life. Our children had all finished school (except our daughter who still planned on going to medical school now that college was over) and I had been doing fairly well with my small weekend handmade jewelry business. I talked it over with my husband and decided to take a year's leave of absence from my job and work on my jewelry designs and setting up an internet storefront. In this business I could work at any hour of the day or night depending on my energy levels. The best thing about this decision was the freedom it gave me to work at my own pace and available energy levels. After a couple of months, on the advice of friends and aquaintances, I applied for Social Security Disability. Every one told me that no one received it right away without having to apply several times and getting the help of a lawyer. To my surprise I received approval and my first check a month and half later. With that check came a newfound sense of peace and freedom. I was finally able to do things again without having to push my body to the point that I had no energy to enjoy life and the world around me.
