Getting Better

Education & Support, Health, Media & Trends, Parkinson's Disease, Philosophy 4 comments

After my long history with Parkinson’s disease, I am amazed and overjoyed that I have had the ability to consistently improve and show signs of getting better.  I won’t tell you that there weren’t dips in the road as some of life’s roadblocks hit me and my progress deviated briefly, but part of staying focused on one’s own healing is to stay open and flexible in mind and body. 

I’ve had this illness at least 25 years of my 45 total years, so I don’t expect to get well overnight. My expectations are realistic. My body can only heal so fast. It took me awhile to get sick and it’ll take some time to get well.

Recently, a major network, I won’t say which, it begins with a “C” and ends in an “S”, did a story that I found incomplete, poorly researched, and all-in-all, just plain wrong. The story was that a positive attitude did not make a difference when dealing with major illness. Their argument was that modern science has proven that there is no basis for positive thinking to be either a deterrent nor a cure for sickness. I say it is rubbish. I know people who are better off and showing improvement  because they maintain a positive attitude. I am living proof . I think the producers failed to thoroughly research this issue as fully as they should have.

Even if science has shown that a positive attitude isn’t beneficial in fighting illness, which I know is false, who are they to try and dash the hopes of millions of people clinging to the hope of improving their condition? Maybe, just maybe, some reports and supposed news ought best be kept quiet.  On top of all the negative reporting that the news brings us, who in knowing this report does it really help? I, for one, am staying positive, because it works.

4 comments

  1. Karl, I agree with you. Being positive is a big part of feeling and BEING better. I hope the author of the article you referenced takes a long look at himself/herself . Is s/he living with an incurable disease? Does s/he know how it feels to face that every day? Where does s/he get the info posted?

    If you don’t live in our shoes, I believe it’s very very hard to speak to this issue with any validity.
    Jean

  2. Hi Karl
    So lovely to read this post and the joy you had clearly when writing it. I too feel that my PMA (positive mental attitude) has meant that my adjustment to living with PD has been easier, my Neurologist says I am quite amazing! I have always been a sunny bright person and since my dx in 2005 (symptoms since 2003) and I guess chasing down my 10th year I guess I am sunnier and brighter than ever. There is one slight adverse consequence of this and strangely it lies within the PD community itself… I am aware of comments along the lines of ‘well she’s not really suffering yet’ and ‘wait until it hits her’ …. well it has hit me, slammed in the face, my life has been turned upsidedown….my symptoms, difficulties, challenges whatever you wish to call them, remain very real, sometimes tough and have tested my resolve. Only two things matter in my own mind, to have patience and grace, something I hold in the highest esteem and something I aspire to have, in oceans. Your blog continues to inspire many, I am sure, like me.

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