Had a good night, woke once I think, in for another cold and wet day the temp now is 10 degrees or 50 degrees if you’re in the USA. My BGL is 4.3.

I did a load of washing and hung it on the clothes hoists.

Tim had to go and put fuel in the car, I stayed home. It has rained on and off all day.

Around 4.30pm Tim put the heater on and after half an hour I started to feel hot and had to go and take my long sleeve jacket off.

Had another good night, I slept through the night waking with the alarm, it is 6 degrees and my BGL is 5.2.

It has reached a top of 17 degrees.

Have answered 3 letters today.

At the start of the year Tim bought himself a pedometer to count his steps during the day but said he couldn’t get it to work. I have decided to wear it and I have no problem with it working. Of a morning, I press reset and attach it to my pants that’s it. I have no idea what Tim was trying to do with it.

I have also borrowed Tasha’s power fit machine and managed to use it for 4 minutes today which was with me standing on it.

I walked 1,514 steps today

Damn these cold mornings suck and to add to annoyance this morning I have no bread for toast, no fruit, no custard and no milk for cereal and it is only 4 degrees. My BGL is 4.1

Had a phone call from Lake Mac Council about the bulk waste collection we have to pay $120 for it as our landlord which is the NSW government do not pay something that covers it and so it is up to each tenant to arrange and pay for their own collection.

So, I told Tim and Tasha about the phone call and they both went off their heads, ringing the Doh and saying they were lying to us when they said they didn’t know what going on. I ended up with a headache from it all.

Jessica came and set the chemist app on my phone for me, took her a while to figure it out but looks ok now.

Both Jess and I went to meet Sam and Tash saw us walking up and joined us, Sam was surprised to see us all there.

It is 19 degrees and not cold, just nice at the moment. I walked 1,240 steps today.

It doesn’t feel as cold this morning even though it is only 7 degrees.  I slept well waking with the alarm. My BGL is 5.1

Tim took a bunch of the bananas to work to just sit on the table for whoever wants one, someone did the same with apples and they got eaten.

I did a bit this morning in the way of housework, and it felt good. I have borrowed Tasha’s powerfit and have started using it for 10 minutes each day. I do most of it while sitting but manage a few minutes standing.

I had banana and custard for breakie and a banana sandwich for lunch.

The temp has risen to 20 degrees, and I am starting to feel warm.

Tim said when he returned to the depo after his morning school run the bananas were gone.

I did 1,822 steps today.

Another cold morning but I felt warm for a bit of it had to open the front door a crack for about 20 minutes.

My BGL is 4.8 and the temp is 6 degrees. By midday it was 17 degrees.

I made myself some hot chips for lunch which I had on a sandwich with cheese.

I decided to ask and seed if someone can drive me to Glendale tomorrow so I can take the bananas to Kathy so she can make me some banana bread. I don’t think I can go over and drop off the bananas as Kathy said not to go at 1.45pm. and that is a bit late, I don’t expect to find someone to drive me.

I did 1,870 steps

Had a not so good night, I was restless and kept waking to pee like every couple of hours and it was a cold night. I ended up getting up at 4.45am as even though I was in a nice warm bed I felt like I was shivering, which is what my internal tremor feels like. It is 3 degrees and my BGL is 4.3

It warmed up to 17 degrees.

While I was using the powerfit Michael arrived to pick up the bananas. I am doing better with the powerfit, I can now stand on it for up to 4 minutes before needing to sit for a bit.

I did 1,801 steps today.

Another rough night, I spent hours tossing and turning before I settled, and I also had to get up 4 times to pee.

It is 7 degrees and my BGL was 3.0 a bit low this morning, which is I suspect part of the reason I am shaking so much.

I have now had breakie and I hope that helps settle the tremor.

When Tim got up, we went to the shops while there Kathy rang, I answered and told her I would ring her back when I got home. Which I did.

Tim is working this afternoon/night.

I did1,648 steps.

REMEMBER I LOVE YOU SO VERY MUCH AND YOU MEAN THE WORLD TO ME. I am so very proud of you and how far you have come over the last few months

Hello everyone on this cold Friday morning, here is a little more about Parkinson’s this week I want to talk about exercise something many will thing is too difficult for someone with PD to do but also something those with PD need to partake in.

It is understandable that when someone is having trouble standing and other mobility issues to shy away from exercise and at times well-meaning family and friends trying to be supportive end up making things worse as the person with PD ends up sitting around on their ass all day doing bugga all. Yes, I am referring to myself here, that is what happened with me.

In some cases, once someone is told they have PD they are given the impression by the medical people that it is up to the drugs to help fix things.

However, exercise and physiotherapy play an important role and this I was not told by any doctor.

I found things changed a lot in me when at Natasha’s insistence I started doing some simple and easy exercises while either sitting or holding onto furniture or a wall. They consisted of leg lifts and twisting my body and walking on the spot all of which can be done while seated if needed. I went from not being able to get in and out of our car to back to getting in and out without a problem.

When you have PD, you must keep your body moving which sounds strange as our bodies rarely stop moving but we need structed movement like lifting our legs and twisting and turning our bodies.

I found one place to get instructions about how and what to do from YouTube where there are countless clips showing you the right way to do things.

I have now started using Natasha’s powerfit which for those who do not know is a balance board that vibrates standing on it isn’t something I could have done a year ago, and now I can only manage to stand for 3 minutes before needing to sit. The vibrations last for 10 minutes and I go from standing to sitting to standing to sitting again.

What is most important is to start doing some kind of exercise each day and our bodies will not become stiff and sore due to PD sooner than need be.

Another Thursday means another post about BPD, I want to point out that not everyone with BPD will have all the symptoms I have already mentioned but in order for a diagnosis of BPD they must have at least five of the traits I have already wrote about. Generally, they will include fear of abandonment, intense and unstable relationships and problems with regulating emotions.

Because it is a mental illness that affects emotional regulation people focus on the mental and emotional symptoms. However, there are also physical symptoms which over the next few weeks I will tell you about them.

One is to do with sensory block during dissociation, when this occurs it can distort perception and cause memory loss. During dissociation it is common to feel like your spirit has left your body and you are just staring into space, if tis happens when the person is alone it can take ages to snap out of it.  A person can also find themselves sweating profusely and their pulse increasing, they can have ringing in the ears and tunnel vision.

Ok everyone here is part two of the Battle of the Coral Sea which occurred in May 1942.

Australia’s part in the battle consisted of the heavy cruiser HMAS Australia and the light cruiser HMAS Hobart and aircraft flown from bases in Queensland by both Aussie and American crews. The Australians were under the command of Rear-Admiral Grace.

This was the first engagement in a sea battle where none of the opposing ships were within gunfire range. All the damage done was inflected by aircraft, of course some planes were shot down.

Both sides had a difficult time finding and identifying the enemy. Early on the 7 May the American oiler Neosho was sunk by Japanese planes, who had mistaken it for an aircraft carrier. This was due to its unorthodox superstructure.

Around noon on the same day the Americans sighted and attacked the Japanese vessel Shoho and its escorting light cruiser sinking both.

While this was going on Grace’s squadron away from the main scene was ordered to cruise the Jomard Passage near the Louisiade Islands. This sea route was the one the Japanese would have to go through in order to reach Port Morsby. Grace’s ships had no air cover, so he adopted an anti-aircraft diamond formation for his ships.

In the late morning a Japanese reconnaissance plane spotted them and reported their position to Rabaul.

This resulted in them being attacked by eleven Japanese torpedo bombers with bombs, torpedos and intense strafing. We returned fire with a strong barrage and more then five Japanese bombers failed to return to base.

                    HMAS Australia in WW11

Skilful steering by the Australia’s commander helped the ship to escape being hit, this first attack was over in five minutes.

Amazingly none of the ships were damaged this was in part due to the lousy shooting by the Japanese. The Aussies suffered six casualties and the US three with two of them being mortally wounded.

More next week.

Hello everyone, it is Aussie Jo from down under shivering her you know what off, any way this week we are looking at the Brazilian Porcupine.

It can be found in Brazil, Argentina, and about 10 or so other places. It hangs out in tropical forests at elevations up to 1500m.

It has an oversized pinky-brown nose and soft, curious eyes that from a distance make it look nice and cuddly, it isn’t because it is covered in short, thick, white and yellow spines and has four long claws on each foot that can shred skin. So don’t try and cuddle it.

The claws are designed to assist with climbing, as it spends around three-quarters of its life in trees, eating and sleeping its long tail curls around branches also to help it stay in its tree.

It can act like a toddler when it stomps its feet and cries usually when scared or upset. If it sees a threat, it will pop its quills out making it look twice as big as it really is, of it rolls up into a spiky ball.

They grow to around a meter in length but half of that is its tail.

Hello everyone, here we are at Monday again and this week we are still in Western Europe with the country many people consider the country of love, France.

It is a country that includes medieval cities, beaches and alpine villages. It is known for its fashion houses, awesome museums and the Eiffel Tower, oh and of course its wines and what some call a sophisticated cuisine, just to name a few things. Although this Aussie gal doesn’t think of snails and frog legs as sophisticated, they are more on the gross side for me.

The capital is Paris, it has a population of around 68 million it was founded on the 10 Aug 843AD.

The currency is the Euro since 2002 before that it was the Franc.

The flag is a vertical tricolour flag with blue, white and red which has been around since the 15 February 1794, however, in 1976 a lighter version of it was adopted.

It has a unitary and semi-presidential system of government which consists of an executive branch, a legislative branch and a judicial branch. Executive power is exercised by the president. A semi-presidential republic also know as a dual executive republic, is a republic in which a president exists alongside a prime minister and a cabinet.

It is the Prime Minister of France through the government and parliament that overseas much of the nation’s day to day domestic affairs. The President wields significant influence and authority in the fields of national security and foreign policy.  

The country has problems with terrorist attacks and the national terror warning is at its highest level, and of course there is crime in France as in every country.

Since 1495 France as played a part in around 130 wars.

What a night I had up and down like a yo yo either needing to pee or just feeling restless.  I have been up since 4.50am. It is 9 degrees, my BGL was 5.2 and it’s cold.

Yet again Facebook removed the post with the link to my blog saying it’s spam, just so annoying.

When Tim got up, I turned off what I was watching as I do so not to bother him, I commented that I was very cold after a few minutes Tim got up and went down the hall. He didn’t come back, and I found him in his office with the heater going. I was annoyed but he didn’t get why.

Tim spent a fair bit of time out the back getting rid of weeds, it left him exhausted, and he had to do it bits and pieces.

Got to a top of 15 degrees.

Had a good night woke only 3 times to pee and straight back to sleep afterwards. It is only 9 degrees this morning and my BGL is 4.1.

It reached a top of 15 degrees or for my American readers 59 degrees. I was so cold that when Tasha came down with washing for the dryer, I was so pleased as the dryer is in the dining room area, and it helped warm the area and I was in the lounge room part it is all in one and having the dryer run warmed it nicely. In fact, when Tim came home as he was doing a split shift and commented about the dryer, I told him I was so glad she was running it due to how cold the house was. He said nothing more about it, I also told him I hoped she had a second load for it as the house is so cold.

I went to meet Sam, but Jess was already there.

Had a good night and woke only once at 2am that I can recall, I woke with the alarm and a headache at 5am. The temp was 10 degrees or for those in the USA 50 degrees my BGL was 4.3.

After a while the headache went away and I started to feel better, I managed to read emails, read blogs, post a blog. Vacuum out and wash both the kitchen and bathroom floors, do a load of towels and unpack the groceries.

By midday it was 16 degrees or 60.8 degrees for those in the USA.

This arvo I wrote one letter I now have a small pile to be posted.

What a cold morning, only 6 degrees when I got up at 5am have the heater going in the lounge room and thankfully I have a heater in the bathroom so when I have my wash and get dressed in the morning the room is warm. My BGL was 4.3.

I am very cold this morning and had the heater going for way longer than normal.

I have times when I am sad for no reason or over something minor and I can’t shake it. I often have moments when I feel so unimportant in people’s lives, maybe that is because I am I don’t know now I feel flat.

I woke with the alarm, I was dreaming, can’t remember what it was just that I was, and I woke with a heavy head. Although after a wash and some moisturizer I felt a little more awake. The temp is only 2 degrees this morning and I don’t know my BGL as the machine needs a new battery.

After Sam left, I thought I would stop at Tasha’s and get her to post some letters off for me but unfortunately her door was locked, and she was in her bedroom blow drying her hair and couldn’t hear me. Even though I was standing at her bedroom window, waving my arms around and calling her name, and I could see myself in her mirror she still didn’t see or hear me. I sent her a message saying I wanted to see her. She went out before seeing the message, text back saying she would be down after the gym, she didn’t turn went somewhere else instead.

I sent her a text about food she said ok, so I thought Tasha was going to bring me something for lunch she didn’t, so I had nothing well 2 small biscuits and a caramel koala. This put me in a mood which lasted a few hours. However, thankfully before going to bed I decided to give her a ring and say goodnight. We talked and I felt better so the day ended well.

Another cold start to the day with the temp at 6 degrees this morning and my BGL is 4.3, it dawned on me last night if I took the battery out and put it back in again the machine would work and it did, still need a new battery though.

Sue came over for a visit, she was here for an hour, we talked and laughed, and she shredded old documents.

Tasha bought me Macca’s for lunch. Got to a top of 16 degrees but didn’t last long before it starts to drop again.

It started to rain at 2pm so I sent Jess a text asking if she could meet Sam, no reply, thankfully it didn’t rain for long and I was able to walk up and meet her.

I am finishing up this entry at 1.15am Saturday morning as I woke up and became restless so decided to get up for half an hour or so. At this time it is 8 degrees.

After returning to bed at 2am I slept ok, I had to get up three times to go to the loo in three hours but each time I went straight back to sleep.

It is 9 degrees, my BGL is 4.7 and I must wake Tasha at 6am so she can make sure Blain gets of to work on time and she is taking me for blood tests.

Tim and I went out to do some stuff, he had an appointment with the optometrist and of course he needs new glasses that’s going to cost around $500. I went to the chemist and to Hot Bargain, then I went and waited in the car for Tim.

Next, we went to Lake Fair Shopping centre so Tim could cash in some empty bottles after that we went to Big W and I was able to get a 2pk of crop top bras, another long sleeve singlet and a new pair of Pyjamas pants.

Kathy rang and we had a good talk about stuff.

Here we are on another Friday, so want to know more about Levodopa, if the answer is no you may want to visit someone else.

When someone has been on a high dosage of Levodopa for a long time the brain changes its response to mechanisms and becomes more and more resistant to the drug.

As a result of this the patients will often find themselves developing different reactions to the treatment. Often the reactions are not the right type with severe abnormal involuntary movements to severe stiffness and slowness in their movements. These types of reactions can be a major problem, changes can be made to dosage as well as other changes but once these side effects have developed it is rarely possible to suppress them completely.

Naturally these abnormal movements cause a lot of distress to the one with PD but also to their loved ones who may become embarrassed by the reactions.

The movements are typically writhing movements of limbs and body or chewing or licking of the mouth with a strange look on the face. If the movements become so bad they interfere with balance and walking the benefits and not so good and reducing the dosage becomes a must. This can be hard for the patient, but it is better to reduce the dose which must be too high as it is the high dosage that is causing the problem.

The period of action in a single dose is about four hours which is why it is taken after each main meal. I take mine every four hours. It sometimes becomes necessary for the first dose of the day to be taken early in the morning before attempting to wash and dress. As time goes on, we start to learn how our bodies react and when the meds are wearing off. Some say there is no point in taking it before going to bed, but I disagree if I don’t take it before bed my body will not settle.

Many notice over time that the length of time they feel ok after the meds reduces and some patients need to take their medication every two hours.

There is a controlled release version of the drug, but it takes an hour or more to kick in which is why some like to take it at night before bed.

                        The medication I take

Here we are at another post about borderline personality disorder or BPD and this week we are looking at psychotic symptoms.

Around 20-50 per cent of suffers will have psychotic

symptoms.

So, it seems that when under extreme stress, those with BPD may experience what we call psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions or some other form of extreme paranoia. What the hell this condition really sucks.

Can you imagine how it must feel to firmly believe that someone is out to harm you or that impending danger is just around the corner, with something terrible going to happen to them.

Thankfully those things are not every day common place, but they can happen. What I far more common is dissociated traits such as having the feeling of being detached from your body or from life itself. Even though I don’t have BPD I have experienced this dissociated when I felt like I was outside of my body watching things happen. I have only experienced it once.

I didn’t realise that dissociation can cause memory issues most likely to happen when the person dissociates regularly and for long periods of times.

So, it is not unusual that people with BPD will dissociate into safer states, these states may look like a completely different person. By this I mean they may regress into that of a child, or a stronger personality then they feel they really are. This doesn’t mean they have multiple personalities. It is referred to as splitting and it is something they may or may not be aware is happening. It is a way of coping.

These symptoms may be so severe that people with BPD may be mistakenly diagnosed with schizophrenia this is because BPD is often misunderstood even by healthcare professional.

Good morning, it is bloody cold here in my lounge room and yes, I have the heater on, but we don’t have big room heaters only small fan heaters.

Well on this cold Wednesday morning we are going to start our look at the Battle of the Coral Sea.

After the attack on Darwin there was naturally fear that Japan had its sights on Australia as a colony, however, access to Japanese records tell us that even though the Japanese Navy had put this forward it was rejected by their high command.

The purpose of the attacks on Australia was to weaken its value as an American base, this of course was unknown, so the fear was there.

During March 1942 the Japanese advance continued and they occupied many of the islands east of Papua including the Solomons and Bougainville. Important Japanese airfields had been established on the islands of Tulagi and Guadalcanal.

In late April US Intelligence detected a major Japanese flotilla heading towards the Coral Sea, its codename was Operation MO. Its objective was the invasion of the small but strategically important town of Port Moresby in Papua.

Allied ships were instructed to head to the area and prevent this happening and the lines were set for the Battle of the Coral Sea, which was fought from 5-8 May 1942.

The US forces were the main protagonists on the allied side with the Australian ships and planes also involved in the fighting.

On the 29 April Operation MO under the command of Admiral Inouye were ordered to attack Port Moresby. The Japanese had seven transports, five destroyers, a light aircraft carrier, a couple of fleet carriers and three heavy cruisers, a light cruiser and a squadron of submarines. They were based at Rabaul and the islands of Tulagi and Solomon.

Thus, they had a bloody lot of ships but so did the Allied forces with thirteen destroyers, eight cruisers, four light cruisers, two aircraft carriers. Our ships were also fitted with radar an invention at that time still unknown to the Japanese.

Rear-Admiral Frank Fletcher was the fleet commander.

More to come next week.