Speech and Parkinson's

Speech difficulty is very common among Parkinson's patients (about 80%). Unfortunately, it is also one of the most neglected areas in the management of PD. Medications are helpful. In fact, when one's voice becomes softer and less clear, it is a sign of progression of illness. In this case, adding new medications and / or increasing the dose of existing medications is helpful. Yes, speech therapy is also useful but there are probably less than twenty qualified speech therapist in Malaysia. ...

Medication and exercise

I was diagnosed as PD in the year of Sept 2005 and taking Sinemet 25/100 one tablet at morning, afternoon and evening and one Jumet 5 mg at morning and afternoon only. I did very well in my gym classes at gym centre 2 -3 hours per day from Mon to Friday as I did not feel tired and exhausted. I took part body pump, combat, cardio, spinning, Yoga and Pilate when there were available in the gym. After 2 years in the gym exercises i.e 2005 to 2006 I started tired and exh

My first encounter with PD

I wish to relate my encounter with PD disease symptoms for the past of 10 years. I understand we have so far 4 movement disorder specialists in Singapore i..e 2 in Tan Tuck Seng Hospital, 1 in General Hospital and other goes Private practice. We have only one in Malaysia. Therefore all the specialists are fully booked and have to make appointment with them for two to three weeks. All the neurologist s are not specialised in movement disorders and my PD yet to be detected. I was told that

Thirst signal leads to dehydration

Dear Friends,

Dehydration is unfortunately all too common among those with PD, especially older adults. Dehydration can have drastic consequences, ranging from urinary tract infections to confusion, dizziness, and falls. Although hot weather increases the need for water, the risk for dehydration is always a concern. The following information is important, and I hope you will all ...

estrogen & testosterone worsen Pd?

Dear Doctor,
I read an article as follows:
I became curious as to effects of estrogen on males; both sexes seem to have varying amounts of estrogen and androgen--women have more estrogen, males have more androgen, but each has SOME of the other's primary sex hormone.
On what role estrogen may play in males' development of PD?
Can estrogen make worse in Parkinson's?
Kindly enlighten the subject and is helpful for Parkinson's
Thanks
TeoKimHoe



Dr. OkunJoined: 19 Jan 2007Posts: 251Location: University of Florida
Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 2:12 pm Post subject:

It is unknown what effect estrogen has on the development of PD and especially unknown in males. Testosterone is converted in the body to estrogen so that is a factor that must be considered. Finally there are studies in women suggesting estrogen could be protective or have a symptomatic benefit in PD. Much needs to be researched on this topic._________________Michael S. Okun, M.D.

CAPTAIN COURAGEOUS by SC Chua

Mr. Teo Kim Hoe was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in September 2005. At a time when most people would sit back and enjoy their retirement lives, Mr. Teo was suddenly faced with a life altering disease. But such is life. When the worst of the storm hits and hurls your ship towards a pile of rocks, you either give up and jump ship or you summon your courage, do your best to steer the ship away from danger and say, “Is this the worst you can do?” In coping with this degenerative disease, Mr. Teo is the epitome of Captain Courageous, hence the appropriate nickname he adopted in his blog – “Hero Teo”.

Although his blog ‘movementdisorder.blogspot.com’ is not exactly Michael J. Fox’s Foundation for Parkinson’s disease, it records the extraordinary efforts that Mr. Teo has taken to combat this disease and his desire to share his knowledge with the world in the hope of reaching out to fellow Parkinson disease patients with the intention of helping them to the best that he can.

While many would stopped after knowing what is the best or latest medicine available for Parkinson’s disease and finding out the best procedure out there, Mr. Teo will not sit on his laurels until he finds out for himself the truthfulness of the representations concerning those medications and procedures. This often involves using himself as the test subject and facing the consequences of undesired side-effects, all these just to prove the effectiveness of the medication. He would then share all these experiences in his blog for the benefit of others. Captain Courageous? I have no doubt that he is.

If all his work and research would benefit and improve the life of even just one person, then Mr. Teo has achieved more than what many of us could do in a lifetime.

Yes, these articles are definitely very encouraging & they will add spice to your book. It will be a source of inspiration to other PD patients to follow in your footsteps!

Cheers,
Hooi Hoon

A new wave (Tsunami) against Parkinson's by Dr.NK Chew

Mr Teo's blog creates a huge impact on the world Parkinson's community because it contains the personal accounts of a great man who suffers from Parkinson's himself. Mr Teo is so frank to reveal and discuss his own personal and medical problems with the whole world.

Let me tell you this true story. Once, I made some honest but frank comments on a Parkinson's patient's lifestyle and medications. I told him that he should increase the dose of his daily medications as I thought that his treatment was too conservative (i.e. he was under-medicated). And I told him that he should also work harder in carrying out daily exercise programs such as morning walk and cycling at home. Finally, I told him that he was a bit too dependent on his wife in his daily activities. All I wanted was to encourage him to live a more physically active life.

This patient replied, "doctor, it is easy for you to say all these. I am the one who suffers from Parkinson's, and not you."

I was taken aback by this statement. Initially, I was a bit annoyed by this "rude" reply. But looking back, I don't think it was rude because there was a lot of truth in it.

It is easy for healthy people (including doctors) to make comments on Parkinson's patients. It is easy to say, "do this and do that". Sometimes, we tend to under-estimate or overlook the sufferings of Parkinson's patients because we (healthy people) don't feel what they feel.

The learning point from this story is that the best people to understand Parkinson's patients are the Parkinson's patients themselves. Therefore, it is important that Parkinson's patients share information and experiences with each other. One good way to achieve this is a Parkinson's blog, as the one which Mr. Teo has started.

I really hope that more and more Parkinson's patients will come up with their own blogs, and follow the footsteps of Hero Teo.

Dr Chew Nee Kong
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.


Dear Dr.Chew,

In response of your article Tsunami. .
It is the attitude of the Parkinson's makes the crucial differences.

They are self-conscious about Parkinson's symptom
How one reacts to PD (or anything for that matter) is of vital importance.
Thanks
Teo