Pushing Past the Noise

There is an ear-piercing noise that occurs when you are living with a chronic illness, especially Parkinson’s disease (PD). This sound inescapably overwhelms your soul, consumes and stifles your creativity, and stifles your ability to express yourself. This is a noise that unfortunately only you can hear. It is the sound of silence.

The noise comes over you with such subtleness like a hunter hiding in the woods, readying to take out its prey, stalking quietly, motionless in total darkness and alone. This is one of a profound enemy of living with PD, and it has struck me piercing my heart like an arrow. The cold and sobering impact of living a life that is destined to claim another victim.

Not enough is being done

Living with PD appears to be an effort of attrition. After all, PD is not only chronic but it is also progressively disabling.

In my opinion, the research and medical communities have made little advances or made forward progress toward finding a potential cure with very few breakthroughs in treating this disease.

This is not to say that progress isn’t being made. In my opinion, not enough is being done to address those facing utter extinction. Meanwhile, back to this so-called life that is frustrating at best but mostly resolved to sitting in silence. Reality becomes the fear that no one will hear my cries for help.

How I try to become more positive with Parkinson's

I speak the very words that I’ve become accustomed to speaking, but often go unheard. I’ve done the speech therapy, the vocal exercises, and the many research studies. These often help us maintain our volume and pitch but are temporary at best. I’ve found that all of these things assist with maintaining our voice, but our sheer will to live keeps us from the abyss of depression and apathy.

A friend of mine recently likened it to a reset button. He said, “If you knew there existed a magic button that would reset your PD to a more positive timeline, how many of you would push that button?" It was at that moment that a lightbulb went on.

I asked myself why wasn’t I pushing that button? The only answer I could come up with was that I would rather wallow in self-pity. Why aren’t YOU pushing that button? There are groups of support, exercise, social events, and conferences that provide knowledge and the latest in treatments but few will take advantage. It is human nature to say no, I’m good here.

That is my advice to you, from my own experience. Go ahead and push the button! See how your life will change.