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Wednesday 22 June 2011

Imagine losing control of your mind and body, Parkinson’s UK can help


Thank-you very much for taking an interest in my blog.

One in every five-hundred people in the UK have the illness Parkinson’s disease, it is difficult tolead a normal way of life with this condition but with the help and support of Parkinson’s UK, people with this illness and their famillies can recive emotional support, advice on benefits, competitions and a chance to meet other people with the diseace. I am concerned that people treat those who have the condition differently because Parkinson’s changes someone so dramatically that they can sometimes seem mentaly limited when really, they are not; this is just an illusion caused by the brain taking longer to process things. This slower reaction time could effect soemone for example by taking longer to get dressed in the mornings from around 5 minutes to 20 minutes. Parkinson’s not only aaffects the person who has it but also their friends and familyas the person can not be as physically active as they were before due to stiffness and Excessive Daytime Sleepiness.Everyone reacts to Parkinson’s in different ways but the most common symptoms is when someone shakes uncontrollably and for no apparent reason this could affect a specific area of the body or alternativley, the whole body could shake.

My dad has Inherited Parkinson’s and it has robbed him of his life. He takes half an hour to get ready quikly in the morning although he has to get up at at least three o’clock in the afternoon or otherwise he will not have enough energy for the afternoon. The conciquence of him not having enough energy is that it becomes extremely difficult to live together as a family. He cannot walk an kind of substancial distance without a walking stick or wheelchair. Dad has to take four tablets a day to control his Parkinson’s and over ten in total to control all of his conditions. He sometimes finds it difficult to keep up with social gatherings and this makes him feel left out.

Parkinson’s disease is a problem because

• The vast majority of people are unaware of the illness
• It doesn’t receive the funding that other more life-threatening illnesses may receive

There is no known cure and this is what Parkinson’s UK are trying to discover. Therefore research has to be funded by donations thus making it difficult to get all of the information they need to find a cure. I therefore encourage everyone to make a donation or join an evemt, from which there are many to choose from, to support this vital organisation.

Please leave a comment and please tell me where you are from (if not the UK):

• Have I made you more aware of the organisation?
• Would you now make a donation or join a fundraising event to support Parkinson’s UK?
• Have I changed you views on Parkinson’s and if so how?
Thank-you again for reading my blog.

For more information visit: http://ww.parkinsons.org.uk/default.aspx

Jemma

7 comments:

  1. Hi Jemma!
    This is an amazing blog, which was very well written and very moving.
    In response to your questions:
    1) You have made me more aware of the organisation and I have learnt a lot more about how the disease hurts the person and the family.
    2) I would definitely support Parkinson's UK and would consider making a donation.
    3) I have always been in support of Parkinson's UK but I think that now I have an even stronger view on the situation.
    Well done on this great blog - good luck in your Citizenship and thank you very much for sharing your own experiences x

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  2. • Have I made you more aware of the organisation?
    Yes you have, i didnt know about it before
    • Would you now make a donation or join a fundraising event to support Parkinson’s UK?
    Yes i would
    • Have I changed you views on Parkinson’s and if so how?
    You've given me more information about it and made me more aware of how serious a disease it is.

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  3. This is a very good blog, you have made me more aware of this what sounds like a brilliant organisation. I Would consider making a donation( I.E. sponsering you for your swim)

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  4. Hey Jemma!
    1. Yes you have definitely made me more aware of the cause. I knew there were diseases like this but this specific disease is completely new to me. I now know all of the crucial details. I am pleased that you brought up a topic like this.
    2. I would most certainly like to help Parkinsons in anyway I can
    3. I never really had a view on Parkinsons as I hadn't known any details, but this blog has definitely made my views strongly towards helping this cause. Thanks for sharing your own experience.

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  5. Jemma

    Well done for your blog and for the attention it has brought to this most distressing set of mind and Body symptoms that are as distressing to the onlookers as the person with the disorder.

    Parkinson’s is not a mystery at all; it is a collection of mistruths by Medical Researchers who profess to know what they are talking about but in reality do not.

    To say your father inherited it has a degree of truth attached to it although you did not go into how, Let us say it was genetic, this again is a medical researcher or professor of medicines stating they do not have a clue as to how it was caused.

    Or is it just to hide the fact the medical person does not really have a clue what they are doing, because they only are able to work with flawed Scientific Evidenced based Medicine.

    Failing as Scientific Medicine does; to recognise the mind and body are in the biggest organ of the body - the skin - and are interdependent and interrelated.

    Therefore all illnesses are a process (not to be confused with the much maligning “It’s all in your Mind”) of the mind following emotional and or physical trauma - even if a person says hand on heart "I have never been traumatised in my life."

    Therefore, these seemingly mysterious symptoms do indeed have a cause, treat the traumas and the body’s immune systems will start to resolve it many chemicals and at the same time the symptoms.

    There are many clues in your blog about this illness one of them being Fatigue. This is the first physical sign a person will make post an emotional or physical trauma. And as Simple tiredness un-refreshed by sleep or rest; the most confusing of symptoms for the medical profession the body can produce. With Fatigue being an extension of simple tiredness and even more confusing.

    The brain taking longer to process things, is caused solely by the fact it is poisoned by its own chemicals, created in reaction to emotional trauma and the same will be said (The brain taking longer to process things)as he attempts to gain understanding from others around him as to resolving the cause of all of his illness.

    The other clues are the many drugs he takes for the many symptoms of ill health. This is as an unambiguous description of the medical professions inability to treat to a cure any symptom let alone more than one symptom at a time and by treating a thought negative process with a drug will- only, as in his case, create more and more mysterious symptoms.

    The words “No known Cure” are just about the most destructive set of words the medical Profession could use because it sets up in a person “If a person is not medically trained then if the say they have a cure do not believe them.” How crass is this coming from a Doctor that has spent many years perfecting the fact he she knows very little. And worse, “If a person says they had the disorder and was cured, then they never had it in the first place.

    Then we get from Trained Medical persons Benign Essential Tremor now cutely named Essential tremor - perhaps because more research funding was required as the earlier funding had been spent on failed research = no cure; is not connected to Parkinson’s Disease what planet are these professionals on to make such statements.

    Peter Smith Talking Cures Southend on Sea Essex England.
    http://talkingcures.co.uk/Essential%20Tremor.html
    http://talkingcures.co.uk/Understanding.html

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  6. Excellent blog post Jemna, well done!
    Best wishes
    Jon, Parkinson's UK, Fife Branch, Scotland

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  7. Jemma,

    Great blog post. It is interesting to hear from the daughter of someone with Young Onset Parkinson's, not least because I have both YOPD and small children. I sympathise very much, both with your father, and with you. I don't want my children to have to cope with my potential disabilities as you are having to do.

    Thank you for the attention you have brought to the condition, and to the work that Parkinson's UK do. I wish you and your father all the very best.

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