Dietary factors:
The changes in the diet wouldn’t cure Parkinson’s. Yet consumption of fruits and vegetables keeps a person healthy.
Protein:
It is observed that a diet rich in protein can affect the Levodopa drug. The7:1 ratio where the former is carbohydrate and the latter is proteincan actually lead to decrease in the dosage your general physician has prescribed you to take.
Fruits and Vegetables:
The intake rich in fruits and vegetables leads to properfunctioning of nerve cells. Dietary fibre like legumes, whole grains, nuts, fruits and vegetables are a rich source of fibre. It’s always good to consume natural food than take supplements. Yet if that is difficult one can take psyllium which is fibre supplement. Keep your body hydrated along with all these by drinking water in short intervals. It reduces constipation.
Herbs and Supplements:
The herbal supplements and dietary products should never be consumed without the advice of your practitioner. Moreover, these products have a tendency to cause serious side effects.
The two important dietary supplements used in the study of Parkinson’s disease treatment:
Creatine:
Creatine is used as a nutritional supplement to enhance exercise performance. The national institutes of health in US used this supplement in Parkinson’s disease patients to study if it slows down the progression of the disease.
Coenzyme Q10 (ubiquinone):
It is an antioxidant which is believed to increase the energy within the cells which might have gone down with patients suffering from PD. The study however failed to explain the benefits when low dosages of these enzymes were given. The same is being tried with larger dosages with longer time.
Rehabilitations:
Exercise has always proven to keep your mind active and your body light and flexible. The therapies hence adopted by your Parkinson’s disease specialist are as below:
Exercise regimes: They can be divided in to passive and active.
- Passive forms include light stretching to avoid contraction of muscles and slowly the exercises become intense to improve movement in patients. These are meant for Parkinson’s disease patients who are in the early or mid-stages.
- Active forms are those where the patients are taught to practice movements sideways, up and down or in circular movements. Usage of other exercise equipment are also encouraged .
Gait Training: It focuses on balance.
- Do not wear shoes which have a tendency to make you slip.
- Take shorter steps while turning and longer steps while walking
Muscle Freezing: Patients freeze when they see an obstacle. Here are a few tips to think and act.
- Sculpt an action plan in your mind and follow it step by step like walking through a corridor.
- If you feel a sudden spasm or the legs freeze simply lift the toes.
Mental Tasks: They help in concentration.
- Figure out what interests the patient and train him-hobbies basically
- Speech, anxiety and tremors can decrease with exercises and deep breathing.
Speech Therapy: Is believed to help in speech and swallowing.
Other Equipment:Assisting devices like arm chair, electric mattresses, chairs with straight backs help in balance.