Medication Woes

Medication Woes

There are some things that are still relatively easy when you have Parkinson’s Disease. My mind is thankfully still sharp, I think, talk, (though some have trouble with this) and personally I enjoy a long walk.

Walking is actually quite tricky unless my medication is working well, and that brings me neatly to today’s point.

I’d been a little down at the weekend. I needed to clear my head and kind of reboot the whole system a little. I was trying to teach myself to look on the bright side and count my blessings, and one point was that I’m very near the beach. Who doesn’t want to live by the sea? I might not be able to see it (there’s an inconvenient hillock that blocks the view) but I can hear it. It’s literally moments from my door. That in itself is something to be thankful for, especially as I grew up two and a half hours on a good day in the car from the coastline.

I never tire of walking by the sea. A lot of Kiwis complain about the beach, preferring the riverside as there’s no sand to clog your toes. However I love nothing more than strolling along the beach, watching the waves and pondering different shapes of driftwood and shells.

So there I was. I picked up my jacket and off I went. It was late afternoon, it’s approaching Spring. I was mooching along, just enjoying the sunshine and the wind on my face. I was alone and had nothing to get back to, nowhere to be, nobody to meet. It struck me that it would be very pleasant to walk all the way to the next township and perhaps treat myself to dinner or a snack in a café before walking back. It’s only about 30 mins from my door to the next town, so it’s eminently doable. How nice that would be.

Except…

a bunch of keys and a red metal tablet container.
Everything you need right here. Car, house, bottle-opener, tablet container and a Scouty fisherman's knot.

I’d not brought my usual set of keys with me. Therefore I didn’t have my stash of spare meds that I keep in a little vial on my keyring. Which in turn meant I couldn’t walk to town and then wander back whenever I pleased, because I could already feel the tell-tale teeny-tiny sense of the beginning of a heavy left foot. It was only a matter of time before it would become difficult to lift my leg and walk without a very strange gait.

Walking is the thing I miss the most. Walking easily. If you listen to Larry Gifford’s awesome ‘When Life Gives You Parkinson’s’ you may have heard the podcast he did about me when I talk about this. It’s a major irritant to me that I can’t even do something as simple as going for a walk with having to remember my pills. It will be like that forever. Unless that cure comes along.

I wish that cure would come along.

Kitty.

kitty fitton on a beach with a wide brimmed hat gazing quizzically at the sky.
Kitty dreams of life free of Parkinson's Disease. And full of big hats.
kitty laughing into camera
Kiity Fitton - usually up to mischief.

Kitty Fitton is a motivational speaker, MC and comedian. She is also a full-time blogger and writer. She is mother to four small people and was very cross to discover she had Parkinson’s Disease.

Find out more at her personal site below. 

emma_k
Emma Kyriacou. Quite good at hitting things.

Emma Kyriacou is a real-life ninja. Taking up Karate to help fight her Parkinson’s Disease, she’s co-founder of Good Moves and is passionate about promoting exercise to improve mobility and neuroplasticity. (Is that a word? It should be.)

Find out more at her personal site below. 

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