I had to smile when I read Twitchywoman’s tongue in cheek 10 things to be thankful about re Parkinson’s in her recent blog. Top of her list was “Getting by on little sleep gives us much more time to spend playing games on our iPads in the middle of the night, while we are deluding ourselves into thinking that these games may actually help our brain cells regenerate.” This is me too! In our household my iPad is known as “my little friend “. We are quite inseparable. I have palpitations just thinking about what I will do when it wears out – that is until I get another one. It is my beloved companion as I wake up really early since getting the disease and I too while away a few guilt free hours happily browsing, researching or planning my next projects, watching the TV programmes I would never confess to wanting to see or whatever instead lying sleeplessly worrying about what the future may hold. Initially I even tried the brain games!
I’ve had my iPad for several years now and soon became addicted to it. Funnily enough when my Parkinson’s symptoms first started to trouble me I thought the iPad was to blame and that I had a repetitive strain injury. My left hand just didn’t feel good for several months. I couldn’t bear having gloves on even in the bitterly cold weather nor could I tolerate my rings. Then I started to get the odd finger twitch. I knew someone with Parkinson’s and I remembered her talking about its pill rolling action. For a while I consoled myself because this did not seem to describe my tremor until one day I was brave enough to look it up on YouTube and saw a video that could have been me. That’s really what pushed me to visit the doctor and my subsequent diagnosis.
Now I just try to stay as positive and active as I can, both physically and mentally and that includes trying to find humour in the situation. My iPad frequently diverts my mind from my troubles. Our neighbours thought it hilarious when we used our two socket generator during a recent power cut plugging the freezer into one and yes, the iPad into the other!
Parkinson's Disease and me 