Concentration = Exhaustion

Sometimes the simplest outing can be exhausting to someone with Parkinson's Disease. The seemingly easy act of thinking, conversing, being with others (even family) can be extremely taxing to someone with PD because they have to concentrate so hard to accomplish what we take for granted. Interaction with anyone, can wear them out. Every move, every response, everything they do, they have to think about, intently. Shallow breathing is common in PD, for if you cannot concentrate on breathing every minute of the day, your breathing is forgotten. Can you picture how arduous that would be?

Imagine you're back in school and you have to solve this word problem:
"Two planes, 2400 miles apart, fly towards each other. One is flying 200 MPH faster than the other. After 1 hour they will meet. What are the speeds of the two planes?"
Now, also imagine the planes will actually collide if you don't figure out the problem before the hour is up. And, the planes are full of people--people you know and love. No pressure now...got it? Most of us would crumble.*

That's how living with Parkinson's can feel. Trying to do more than one thing at a time; walking, talking, moving, thinking, breathing, takes that kind of concentration. And it's stressful. No wonder PD patients are tired all of the time! 

Jamey and I joined his parents and their church for a Rivercats Baseball game on Saturday night. While the trip wasn't terribly far away (I drove so he was able to relax--or maybe that was added stress 😉), and we sat by ourselves, we did interact with friends and neighbors.  We both had a great time and will probably do it again, but with one caveat. We will not plan anything for the next several days after the event. Because of the concentration the interaction with people took, Jamey was completely wiped out and slept most of the next day. It took several days for him to get back his sea legs, if you will.

Here are just a few of the things people with PD have to contend with, and concentrate on fully, to function . Please keep these things in mind when relating with PD loved ones.

• Slowness of thinking
• Struggling to find the right words in conversations
• Difficulty concentrating
• Difficulty with problem solving
• Language problems
• Memory problems
• Brain fog
• Lack of reasoning skills
• Declining general intelligence

Be patient. Wait for them to get their thoughts together. And don't overload their schedules with outings or events, because in so doing, you are also overloading their brains. Take into account the amount of concentration involved in their day-to-day living we don't have to think twice about. When you understand a little more about what your loved ones are going through, it might make it easier for you to help them along.

*No. I do not know the answer. But, thankfully, no one died while waiting for me to figure it out!

UPDATE: Just got an email from my brother Bill, a math professor at DePaul University in Chicago: "The speeds of the two aircraft are 1100 mph and 1300 mph, by the way—that’s really flying." 
Apparently, I should have made them rockets instead of airplanes!