One of the most common traits of society today is what I like to call the “Spoiled Brat Syndrome.” Quality has been traded in for quantity as everyone on the block tries to keep up with the Jones’. Craftsmanship and Pride fell years ago, victims of a double homicide  committed by Mass Production while Envy stood idly by and watched.

Well, I am here to tell you that bigger is not always better, and in the case of neurological disorders, “more” is quite often “less.” If I have learned nothing else from living with Parkinson’s Disease, I have learned that moderation is always the best policy.

Exercise is good for PD. It helps with endurance, it helps with balance, and it slows down the loss of strength. Too much exercise, however, can be detrimental.  Exercise obviously requires energy, a precious commodity for those of us with PD, and one that is not easily replaced once it is used up. With too much energy used up, it becomes harder to maintain your balance, increasing the risk for falls and injuries, to say nothing about the lack of energy to complete everyday routine tasks.

Medications can be very helpful, but again , they must be taken in moderation. Besides the potential for overdose, the side effects increase at an exponential rate. That is to say, if one pill works pretty good and only causes a small amount of “side effect ‘x’,” taking two pills won’t just double the side effects, it will potentially triple or quadruple them. This is called the synergistic effect. (Sometimes this is desirable, as is the case when the drugs carbadopa and levodopa are combined to form the drug sinemet. There effects aren’t just added together. The two drugs compliment each other in such a way that their effects are multiplied greatly.)[Never, never, never, increase or decrease the amount of medication you are on without consulting your physician!]

In my experience as a nurse, people often think that trying more than one type of medication at a time will increase the speed of their recovery, or increase the chances of finding something that works to take away their symptoms.

There are two problems with this theory.

1. Medications take a tremendous toll on the liver and kidneys as the body works to process the drugs, often causing liver  and/or kidney failure.
2. If you are trying more than one different medication at a time, how will you know which one is working and which one is not? If you stop taking one of them, you run the risk of stopping the wrong one. If you continue taking both of them, well…see number 1 above…

My advice: Don’t give in to gluttony unless you wish to become a “glutton for punishment.” (Sorry, couldn’t resist that one.) And again, do not under any circumstances change your medications without the advice of a physician.