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I lost a friend this week. I met Barry in Boxing class about 10 years ago. We hit it off and often paired up to box together in class. We were both active in the local Parkinson Foundation’s annual Moving Day Walk. For several years we were the #1 & 2 top fundraisers each year, which led to a lot of friendly trash talk about who was #1 at any given time. When the Pandemic hit, we lost track of…

“This is not a cookbook. This is how I stopped losing control of my own body.” Wojciech Wasilewski So far, 2026 has been a banner year for new publications about Parkinson’s Disease. Books by Doctors/Health Care Professionals, Researchers, People with Parkinson’s and even a few inspired by children and grandchildren. How do you keep up with all of them? I am running out of room for all of these…

Yeah, there’s no way around it….we still don’t have a cure. Parkinson’s sucks Robert Cochrane, PhD Think back to when you were first diagnosed. Were you shocked? Scared? Embarrassed? Afraid to tell anyone? All of the above? So often, peope with Parkinson’s are more worried about the stigma of PD. Yes, the stigma. Why do we feel embarrased? Maybe it is the image of Parkinson’s that has been…

It’s not just getting through TSA anymore that makes travel so difficult. Traveling, especially flying, takes so much energy that by the time you get to your destination, you are totally exhausted. Where do you pack your meds? Do you need mobile assist at the airport? Do you need a cane? Walking stick? Wheelchair? What fits in your carry-on bags? And how do you explain to security why they…

Last week, in response to Dr. Michael Okun’s statement urging us to tell our stories, I published one story written by Ellen (last name withheld). Immediately, I started getting emails, texts and even handwritten letters sent by mail, telling me how reading Ellen’s story had a very powerful effect on them. Today, I am featuring another story, this time done in Haiku, that I hope you will enjoy…

Every day is a new adventure A Parkinson’s friend Since my latest fall and injury, I am finding it difficult to come to terms with that fact that I cannot continue to go through life thinking that I can do everything I did before. That the new normal is not the same as it was 10 years ago, or even as it was last week. I know that others feel the same way. For many People with Parkinson’s, there…

We returned from Maui on Saturday after a well-needed vacation. The great news – no mishaps, odd injuries, or broken bones! Yay! Just lots of rest, massages, sitting by the pool or on the beach doing nothing. It was wonderful and I passed the test for future travel. Some Travel Tips I did learn a few things about how to travel better, especially with the new TSA rules about carry-on bags. I saw…

With the explosion of resources for People with Parkinson’s Disease, you would think that it would be easy to find all of the different types of exercise classes that you are interested in, especially in a bigger city like Los Angeles. Wrong! Living is West Los Angeles can be challenging for those of us with PD. Pre-pandemic, there were many choices – boxing, dancing, yoga, pingpong and more. 6…

By now you have probably heard about Michael J Fox’s return to television this week in the show “Shrinking” on AppleTV+. The main character of the show, Paul, is played beautifully by Harrison Ford. In the first season the show we learned the Paul has Parkinson’s. His progression is fairly quick, this being tv, and Paul ended Season 2 with an amazing monologue about living with Parkinson’s. If…

Sleep is an ongoing battle for almost everyone with PD. Several years ago I learned about Yoga Nidra. Yoga Nidra??? No it’s not really yoga. It is a guided meditation practice inducing a state between waking and sleeping, focusing on deep relaxation through breath awareness, body scans, and guided imagery, helping release tension, calm the nervous system, and promote restorative rest, often done…

Mark your calendars for these 2 events. Laughing at YOPD Next Sunday, January 11, 2026 @1:00 PM ET, 10:00 AM PT with Jeremy Moody Jeremy is a writer, storyteller, and recovering academic whose music career was cut short by Young Onset Parkinson’s. He has leaned on his experience giving lectures in courses such as Life, Death, and Meaning to tell his story with an authentic voice with humor,…

How Far we have come . . . It was only seventeen years ago that our family doctor told me that my tremor might be Parkinsons and that the neurologist he referred me to told me that I likely had, at most, five – FIVE!!!! – good years left.  After that, what?  A walker?  A wheelchair?  Worse? The year 2009 seems like another world.  The internet we now use (need?) like oxygen was still fairly new…