Bah, humbug!

It seems that once you let them into your life, there is no escape possible. What did I have before? A bit of back pain and a slight twitch. And what do I have now? A bit of (slightly different) back pain and a bit more of a twitch – plus a medical team consisting of
1. GP
2. Neurologist
3. Physiotherapist
4. Speech therapist
5. Pain clinic specialist
6. REM sleep expert
with each their opinion of how to solve my problems. Well, nobody is saying it ain’t Parkinson’s, but the ideas for treating the symptoms and improving my daily quality of life vary. A number of things get tried, and if any change occurs it is hard to say afterwards what exactly caused it.

As I said two weeks ago, I’ve been worried about my cognitive skills (and still am), but unsure whether my slow descent into a forgetful multi-napper is caused by Parkinson’s, by serious sleep deprivation, by side effects of my medication, or by some as yet undiscovered issues. When I saw the neurologist a few days ago she was surprised that I was functioning so much worse than at my last visit and agreed something must be done. Insomnia and disturbed sleep are quite common in Parkinson’s, and since I am lucky enough to be treated by one of the national PD centers, they have a resident REM sleep expert whom the neurologist will consult as to what sleeping pills might best avoid the ultra-vivid dreams and sleep-walking episodes that I have been getting from all the other meds I have tried so far. Fingers crossed! The life I have been leading the last few weeks – unable to stay awake for more than half an hour at a time, attention span of a concussed lemming, ridiculously dependent on my poor wife, gobbling down pills by the fistful – is just not acceptable.

And another thing: we’ve had a bit of a heat wave (in my present mood, I blame the doctors) which finally appears to have broken today – and just as well, since I have been at real risk of running out of clean laundry. I’m not sure about this, but it seems like my internal temperature gauge may be faulty. I get extravagantly warm and sweaty over 95% of my body, but at the same time have some weird chilly spots, such as cold knees (silly) and cold back of the neck (more unpleasant). Marie confirms that my skin feels a bit cooler in these places. So on the one hand I sweat through one T-shirt after another and have to take frequent showers – somewhat problematic because it takes me so frustratingly long to get in and out of my clothes that by the time I’ve got dried off and dressed again, it is time for my next nap. And on the other hand I am constantly having to warm up my bag of cherry pips to apply heat to my cold bits. There really are days when I think my body is just out to get me.