In recently re-reading this excellent article, it struck me that, as part of their own literature review, the authors describe what it is like on the inside to be in the fright response, and hence according to my thesis, what is like to be symptomatic with PD.
Read MoreFeeling Trapped and Parkinson's Disease
As a first step, we perhaps need to identify the places where we are stuck in our lives, those stressors which come with a sense of being trapped, the stressful things we can’t fight or flee from, and try to address these. This is because the tonic immobilization framework of PD predicts that it will be very hard to reduce symptoms in circumstances that our nervous system is constantly feeling trapped by a proximate threat. Examples include being in a toxic relationship, living in a house with neurotoxic mould infestations, workplace exposure a chemical agent, enduring a long and stressful daily commute to work.
Read MoreThe Overlaps Between Stress and Parkinson's Disease, Part 2
Although the seven stage framework has been developed to describe acutely applied short duration stress, without any reference to PD, the very same framework also describes well the declining state of a PwPs body over time - if the disease is allowed to progress. Therefore, we believe that not only are PwPs permanently stuck in such stress response states, the degree of the stress that we are stuck in also moves through the stages as our situation is allowed to degenerated.
Read MoreClothing and The Freeze Phenomena in Parkinson's Disease
For People with Parkinson's, there is something very strange about the feedback between our brains/bodies and our immediate environment. The choice of clothes, in particular, can affect symptoms. In this article, I cover why consideration to clothing is an important part of living well with Parkinson's.
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