Two words starting with H - unrelated to each other, but both related to living with PD.
💦Hydration
Proper hydration is fundamental for your health, whether you have PD or not. Since our brains are about 73% water and people with Parkinson’s already have impaired brain function, staying hydrated is even more important.
Our cells need water to do their job. Without proper hydration your cells can’t get proper nutrients, your mitochondria can’t produce the energy you need to heal and function, you can’t make digestive enzymes or hormones and your neurons are less efficient at sending electrical signals to each other.
As levodopa is absorbed in the small intestine, constipation can slow down it’s passage through the digestive system. Drinking enough water helps levodopa reach where it needs to go and also helps prevent constipation. So for some people who experience fluctuations or delayed response from their medication, dehydration could be a contributing factor.
🤞🏼Hope
Is there hope for people with PD? Parkinsons is the fastest growing neurological condition in the world, and there is currently no cure. But thanks to more than 50 years of research, scientists understand more about the disease than ever before. But with a progressive disease you can’t wait for years for a cure or better treatment. Organizations like The Michael J Fox Foundation, Parkinson’s UK and The Cure Parkinsons Trust are working hard to speed things up. With my “coming out” story nearly two years ago my generous friends helped me raise more than 2500 EUR for research. There are some new treatments being developed and tested that give hope to people with PD. These include stem cell therapies, gene therapies and growth factors (like GDNF). And a recent breakthrough made by Charalampos Tzoulis from The University of Bergen, Norway also gives hope for the future, the researchers are in the phase 2 of a trial testing a form of vitamin B3 as a possible way to increase the amount of NAD in the brain, and thereby reducing inflammation and improving symptoms and maybe slowing progression. So there is hope, and this is why I manage to stay positive and optimistic.
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