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Submitted by PatientsEngage on 10 April 2016

Although 80-years-old, my father is putting up a valorous fight to slow down the progression of Parkinson’s disease by following an austere exercise regimen, that includes facial scrunches, eye rotation, reading aloud, says daughter Rashmi Saxena.

I am Rashmi, daughter of Sanjeev Saxena. I come with my father twice a month for his physiotherapy session. He is a retired civil engineer and is 80-years-old. 

My father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at the age of 76 in 2010. It took doctors nearly two years to make the correct diagnosis. My parents were living in Kanpur at that time. My father had been a very active person. Even after retirement, he kept himself busy with social work. 

One morning, my father woke with up with a hoarse voice. It had a gruff quality and his speech was unclear and difficult to understand.  My mother was puzzled because he did not have any cough or cold. After a few days, when it did not improve, despite several home remedies, he visited a doctor. The doctor dismissed it as an old age problem and gave him some routine medicines.

It was my father’s first symptom of Parkinson’s. But we didn’t know. The thought of Parkinson’s disease never even crossed our mind. Firstly, we didn’t know many details about Parkinson’s. All that we knew was that if anybody had Parkinson’s, their head and hands would be trembling. My father had no such symptom. There were no tremors in his hands. Secondly, my father had been exceptionally active all his life. We never thought he would get afflicted with Parkinson’s. So, the change in his voice was more or less overlooked, not only by the family, but even by the doctors.

A few months later, he started having difficulty walking. There was a bit of shuffling and unsteadiness. The speed of his walking had become notably slow. We made him do some exercises at home, but nothing helped. His manner of walking had become slight different now. He was lifting his feet less, and dragging it more. When the symptoms persisted, we took him to an orthopaedic, who on examination, said it was old age arthritis and gave him medicines accordingly. 

My father had no inflammation in the joints, nor was there any stiffness or pain.  But since the orthopaedic had said it was arthritis, we believed it so. That he could be having Parkinson’s was not even remotely considered. Although, now, when we had read so much about the disease, we realized that Parkinson’s gait is characterized by small shuffling steps or total loss of movement in severe cases.

Several months later, he had suffered a number of Transient Ischemic Attacks (TIA). We rushed him to a neurologist, but even then there was no mention of Parkinson’s. Actually, now when we look back, we realise that since my father did not have any of the classic signs of Parkinson’s, that is, the trembling of hands or head, Parkinson’s was never thought of by doctors. Six months later, he had fall at home and he had to undergo hip replacement surgery. It was then, during the course of his treatment, that he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. 

Subsequently, we brought him to Bombay to live with us. As his walk became unsteady, we would not allow him to step out of the house alone. Since then my father has gone on an overdrive to fight Parkinson’s. 

Today, even though he has bronchial problem and Parkinson’s, he is exercising round the clock. So there are daily facial exercises. Because in Parkinson’s your face muscles can become stiff and there can be ‘facial masking’ or it became expressionless.  Sometimes I see him rolling his eyes from side to side. He reads the newspaper aloud for speech exercise. He is an avid reader so he keeps himself busy with the Economist and Reader’s Digest. He also keeps himself preoccupied with his iPad. I’ve seen him search for various exercises for Parkinson’s. He sends mails to all his relatives and keeps in touch with them. Read tips on managing Parkinson's.

If he does not exercise for one or two days, his posture gets affected, he starts hunching and legs become stiff.  He is aware that if he wants to maintain status quo and slow down degeneration, one way out is to exercise regularly.  It is an ongoing battle against the disease.

(Names have been changed on request to protect identity)

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