A Journey of One Day #16 Notes

Much has transpired since I last recorded my progress. Let me catch you up.
The second week in April I made the decision to resume the PD med ‘Sinemet’. My reasons for doing so are as follows-
    *I realized that my digestion was shutting down
    *I was still losing weight; down to 110 lbs.
    *I still could not swallow very well, even my own saliva
It had been 4 ½ months of no meds; a long, agonizing period for me.
Within about 2 weeks of resuming Sinemet (300 mg a day) I started moving better, swallowing, etc.
I am taking a minimal amount of the Sinemet and it is enough. I need to take enough to move but not enough to cause dyskinesia (erratic, uncontrolled movement). Dyskinesia is caused by PD meds. My body still uses the Sinemet very quickly so I take 50 mg every two hours and have pretty consistent ‘on’ time. I will not resume the other PD med, Requip. That one causes obsessive behaviors that I am happy to do without. I am still feeling withdrawal symptoms from Requip, I believe. I have read that it takes an enormously long time to rid the body of this medication. And going off of it can create a scenario something like a stroke. I agree.
These medications are so dangerously complex. The neurology world really does not understand them like you would think or hope they do.
I’m taking my current knowledge from the book ‘Medications of Parkinson’s or Once Upon a Pill’ published online by Janice Walton-Hadlock. It is a comprehensive six-year history of Parkinson’s patient’s experiences with dopamine enhancing drugs and supplements. The web address is   www.pdrecovery.org    entitled The Parkinson’s Recovery Project.
I continue to take a supplement called ‘Aquas’; a homeopathic formula which stimulates cellular detoxification. I take one drop twice a week. It’s that powerful. I also take a line of supplements called USANA. They include antioxidants, CoQ10, a full range of vitamins, amino acids and chelated trace minerals, calcium/magnesium, and omegas. I take these twice a week also. This is the first line of supplements that my body actually assimilates well.
My daughter, Clair, and her husband and baby have moved in with us for a while. She discovered a book called ‘The Raw Food Detox Diet. Together we are following an 80% raw food meal plan. She wants to lose weight and I want some pure nutrition to help my healing endeavor. I couldn’t do this without her to fix the food.  It takes 2-3 hours a day of chopping and fixing. It also entails some specific, consistent shopping for fresh fruits and vegetables; organic if possible, not to mention all of the other raw food items. It’s been five days since we started and I’m all ready noticing some definite changes in my body. I am sleeping better, eliminating better and first thing in the morning. My muscles don’t hurt as much. I am losing my cravings for sugar. They’re not gone but it’s not as strong. I have more daily stamina and more consistent ‘on’ time.
I am still dealing with the chronic pain from the permanent nerve damage in my lower back which affects my right leg. But it’s mostly controlled with minimal pain medicine and not overdoing on bending, lifting, and walking too much. Ballroom dancing has always helped the pain believe it or not as long as I stay away from the high impact dances like Lindy Hop, Fast swing and Jive. The other dances help, I’m told by my physical therapist, because they require the correct lengthening of the long muscles of the legs and the posture of the back is consistently correct, aligned. I’m actually feeling and moving well enough to try ballroom again. My doctors encourage it. There’s a dance tonight we may attend.
My goal is still to heal my body to a point where I’m producing enough native dopamine to function like everyone else. The only dent in that plan is that my brain has been relying on synthetic dopamine so long that I may never regain the full potential of native dopamine production.
Dancing has always seemed to be good for me so I’ll keep at it.