Simple Ways to Relieve Common Parkinson’s Symptoms at Home

Before your Parkinson’s symptoms developed, you never worried about how to get dressed in the morning or how to climb into the tub for a leisurely bath. These tips can help you keep up with those normal routines.

Parkinson’s symptoms can make daily life very difficult. The muscle stiffness, weakness, and tremors that people with Parkinson’s often experience can significantly interfere with everyday activities, especially as the disease progresses. Simple tasks like dressing, bathing, or even walking around the house can become frustrating.

As the medical community learns and understands more about the disease, they have developed treatments for Parkinson’s patients that can help make your life easier.

Remedies for Common Parkinson’s Symptoms: Stiff Muscles

For people with Parkinson’s, exercise is considered an essential part of managing the symptoms of the disease. “Exercise is being researched as a possible intervention and possible neuro- (brain) protective measure,” explains Linda Pituch, a patient services manager for the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation. “It’s not conclusive but exercise may end up being viewed in the same vein as medication — as a treatment you don’t skip.”

The following stretching and flexibility exercises can help to relieve stiff muscles, improve flexibility, and make everyday tasks easier:

1. Face a wall about 8 inches away and reach your arms upward. Next, place your hands on the wall for balance and stretch out your arms and back.
2. Place your back against the wall for support and then briskly march in place, lifting your knees as high as possible.
3. Sit in a chair with a high, straight back and stretch your arms behind the chair, bringing your shoulders back as far as you can. As you stretch, lift your head toward the ceiling.
4. Sitting in a chair, stomp your feet up and down while pumping your arms back and forth at your sides.

Remedies for Common Parkinson’s Symptoms: Tremors

The best thing you can do to manage tremors, a common Parkinson’s symptom that causes involuntary shaking, is to take your medication consistently and on time, says Pituch. The timing of medication for Parkinson’s is key, she notes. Medication wears off after a certain amount of time, so you want to make sure the time span between when you take your medication is working in your favor. If symptoms start before you take your next dose, it’s important to work with your doctor to adjust your treatment schedule accordingly.Certain dietary habits can also impact the effectiveness of your medication and how well it helps to manage your Parkinson’s symptoms. 

Diets heavy in protein, for instance, can limit your body’s absorption of levodopa (Dopar, Larodopa), a common medication used in the management of Parkinson’s disease. As a result, some doctors recommend that people with Parkinson’s restrict their protein intake to 12 percent of their daily calories. Carefully reading food labels and asking your doctor for a referral to a nutritionist can make it easier to follow a lower protein diet. Also, it’s believed that fruits and vegetables, already part of a healthy lifestyle, might help protect nerve cell function and possibly help keep Parkinson’s symptoms under control.

Remedies for Common Parkinson’s Symptoms: Difficulty Walking and Poor Balance

Patients with Parkinson’s symptoms can enhance their treatment by doing what’s called “gait training” at home. This involves practicing new ways to stand, walk, and turn. People undergoing gait training should try to:

1. Take large steps when walking straight ahead, focusing on proper heel-toe form.
2. Keep the legs at least 10 inches apart while turning or walking in order to provide more support and reduce the risk of falls.
3. Avoid shoes with rubber soles, as they can stick to the floor and increase the risk of falls.
4. Walk to a steady rhythm. Practice this type of gait training with the help of a metronome — a tool musicians use to make and keep a rhythmic beat. One study showed that when people with Parkinson’s walk to the sound of a metronome set about 10 percent faster than their fastest stride, it can significantly improve their gait.

Remedies for Common Parkinson’s Symptoms: Creating a Safer Home

Often, making simple changes around the home can also make it easier for people to properly function while dealing with Parkinson’s symptoms. Pituch notes that there will probably be a point where it’s appropriate for health care providers to come up with a detailed plan for the person to live safely and independently at home.

Discussing specific strategies with your Parkinson’s medical team can be useful in redesigning a living space to make it safer. Occupational therapists in particular can make suggestions in terms of making the home a more user-friendly environment for someone with Parkinson’s. This type of therapist looks at things like furniture placement, handrails and extensions on toilets, and floor coverings to determine where possible hazards lie and how to make your home easier to navigate for the person with Parkinson’s disease.

By Dennis Thompson

http://themedics.info/2015/12/09/simple-ways-to-relieve-common-parkinsons-symptoms-at-home/