Since my last post about three months ago I have had a change in medication. Much sooner than I expected, though I had expected it one day, the Mirapex lost its efficacy. I was back to stumbling and struggling to walk even though the drug dosage had been raised gradually to its highest limit. I made an appointment with Dr. V who again as expected, prescribed a new drug to be taken: Sinemet.
I had heard of Sinemet from my PD dance classmates. I also knew that it was a levadopa drug and the most commonly taken drug by Parkinson patients. After some discussion about other drugs I had read about during which he was fairly patient (I am a cooperative patient at last) and about drug studies he had read, I began to add a half of a 3 mg. Sinemet pill three times a day in addition to the 4.5 mg. of Mirapex I was already taking. He told me that the combination of the two was beneficial because they each performed different actions in the brain.
Within a couple of days the Sinemet kicked in. I could walk again. I called Dr. V two weeks later and was told to continue the course.
I must say the drugs have been a big influence on my daily life. As I look at my last post in November of 2011 I notice that since then I have been veering from the contemplative to a more active mode. Is it only a physical response to improved mobility or is it affecting my psyche, my spirit? These are drugs that act in the brain after all where, I’m guessing, at least some of “spirit” exists.
Anyway, I hope spirit exists inside me somewhere and is everywhere in all the activities in which I’m engaged. Anyone should not have to go to church or meeting or meditation position to be spiritual. Ideally it should be a part of our daily life - in gardening, cooking, cleaning or talking to a friend. Is this an impossible goal?
Gurdjieff wrote, “Remember yourself always and everywhere.”
I can only wonder, am I anywhere near doing that? I am living life with a spirit of joy almost everyday. That may be something like it.
