Ok everyone I have spoken about the more major symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease but there is what can seem like a endless list of minor symptoms. Listed here are just a few and I will explain more over the next couple of weeks.
These include such things as tiredness which I suffer from with many days needing to close my eyes for a 20-30 minute nap, depression which I also suffer from and have done for years but there are times when things start to get to me and causes me to feel like crying. Another symptom is dribbling or drooling which I have a problem with some nights.
Thankfully I don’t have constipation or mental confusion, although my memory can be shit at times I write a lot of small notes for myself which may or may-not be connected to Parkinson’s.
It can be difficult to know whether something is or isn’t connected to the Parkinson’s.
Let’s look first tiredness, most people do not know what real tiredness is, it is however, common with Parkinson’s and it is difficult to understand and describe if you don’t have the disease.
Patients with Parkinson’s often feel that doing things take a great effort compared to a normal person many tasks exhaust the suffer and even having a rest doesn’t relieve the feeling of exhaustion, as you would expect it to.
The tiredness isn’t just a physical thing but also a mental thing we feel lethargic and have no real interest in doing stuff but doing simple exercises and if possible going for a walk will help in the long run. I don’t go for a walk but I do do some simple exercises during the day, to keep body flexible.
Damn it is Thursday already, this week we are looking at shearing in the 1890’s. Shearing underwent many tribulations and changes during this period, as well as the exhausting work and the strikes and in 1894 new machinery was introduced.
Shearers were an itinerant group of men depending on seasonal work, a popular song at the time sums up the life of a shearer.
The springtime it brings on the shearing
And it’s the you will see them in droves
To the west country stations all steering
A seeking a job of the coves
The shearing season varied between states, an expert shearer could earn money during most of shearing season by travelling and the different colonies, including Tassie and New Zealand. It was not unheard of for shearers to boast that they could shear all year round. This they could do as the shearing started in Queensland in January running to March, then in NSW, Victoria, South Australia between August to November. Also in Queensland the period from July to September was favoured because it was a time when the fleece was at its thickest and grass seeds didn’t affect the quality.
How much they made depended on how many sheep they sheared, the rate was so much per 100 sheep and included rations and the cook’s wages. In South Aus the effects of the strikes and the depression are reflected in the fluctuations of pay, In 18 90 it was on average eighteen shillings a sixpence by 1899 it had fallen to thirteen shillings.
Well hello Tuesday, how many have heard of the Solenodon I hadn’t till now. They are a venomous, nocturnal, burrowing insectivorous mammals belonging to the Solenodontidae family. That help any, nope didn’t help me know what they are either.
They have elongated snout which is flexible which means it can twist and turn its snout to probe tiny nooks and crannies for food. They are generally omnivores that prefer animal material and prey primarily on invertebrates but also scavenge on vertebrate remains. They will also eat insects, worms, small reptiles, roots,fruits and leaves.
Native to Cuba and Hispaniola the 30cm or around 12 inches they are one of the very few venomous mammals around. Similar to snakes it injects its poison through teeth that have special groves to carry the venom.
The female has two nipples for feeding her young at the rear of her stomach.
When threatened they grunt like a pig or make birds cries.
Good morning all, here we are at another Monday and that means some facts taken from my Great Book Of Knowledge, yes that is the name of the book I am using for these posts. This week we are looking at plants.
Some plants have evolved leaves, stings or poisons to protect themselves from being eaten by animals.
There are around 300,000 plant species in the world.
Everything we eat comes from plants either directly when we eat plants or indirectly when we eat animals that feed on plants.
All plants can be divided into two groups flowering plants which include roses, sunflowers and most trees, and non-flowering plants such as mosses and ferns.
Some plants eat insects and other tiny animals these are called carnivorous plants and grow in area where the soil is thin and lacking nutrients.
Much cooler this morning only 23 degrees this morning, no breeze which is better then a hot breeze I guess. By 7am it had dropped to 19 degrees and by 8.30am it has gone up again to 21 degrees.
Having internet issues this morning so bloody frustrating. I rebooted the computer and it came good. So I was able to do the food shopping.
I am trying to stay up till 5pm each day, managed it yesterday and again today.
Another good night, at 5am when I got up it was only 21 degrees but by 6am it was 22 degrees. Had an egg-flip for breakie as I am out of chocolate milk. There is a nice cool breeze coming through the house, I am in longish pants as I have no clean shorts that fit me.
Tasha came down to see me not for any reason other then to say Hi and give me a hug let me know she misses seeing me but she has been pretty busy with work and stuff.
Tim’s physio came and that went well, he only has 2 more appointments with her, this afternoon he went to find a denture repair place as his plate is damaged.
This morning I woke to Tim giving me a pat as I hadn’t heard the alarm go off. It was 17 degrees when I got up so I am wearing long light-weight pants again.
The laptop is giving me a headache this morning.
Tim, Jessica and myself went out for lunch at Tim’s favourite all you can eat place the Eastern Tiger.
Tomorrow Jessica and Tasha maybe going out for lunch and Jess said I could go with them.
Another cool morning with a temp of 18 degrees, slept well. I put on shorts when I got dressed but had to go and change into longer pants, at least until it starts to warm up. That is what Autumn is like long pants in the morning shorts from mid morning onwards till we need warmer clothes in the evening.
I do not feel well this morning my whole head aches and feels too heavy for my body.
After Sam went to school I put my feet up and closed my eyes for 45 minutes.
I went out for lunch with Jess and Tasha that was nice, I enjoyed myself.
Tim had someone into clean the carpet it does look better.
After another good night I am up dressed and started my day the temp is 19 degrees.
Tim has an appointments this morning with his counselor and before he left he turned the air con on this was a surprise for me as he usually doesn’t want it on. He told me when he got home that it was his last appointments with him, he felt it was a waste of time seeing the guy.
I tidy up Sam’s room just folded up his clothes and moved his art books onto a cupboard and not the floor.
It got to 28 degrees by 11am.
I found a message from Jess telling me Sam isn’t going to school, he needs a day off.
It is 21 degrees this morning but not hot with the front and back doors open.
At 1pm Tim decided to walk to Service NSW when he left I turned the air con on. It was 28 degrees when I turned it on.
Tim was annoyed when as he found out what he went to Service NSW about has to be done online.
Tim went and dug out some documents from storage in shed to use for his resume, it exhausted him and he also spent about 45 minutes shredding documents.
I woke with the alarm after sleeping straight through the night, the temp was 20 degrees at 5am but by 5.45 it was had dropped to 19 degrees. It went back up to 20 degrees by 8am.
Had a phone call from Kathy she said her and the girls will be over this afternoon for a visit. They turned up around 1.30pm and stared an hour & half.
Here we are at another Friday so here is a little more about Parkinson’s this week we are talking about balance or the trouble we have with it.
Slowness of movement has an important part with they symptom of dizziness and balance which is common with Parkinson’s. A suffer may notice difficulty when getting out of a low chair due to a fear of falling forwards, this is something I have experienced.
We can also have issues when walking around the house or even just standing. One issue is that we may at times feel like our feet are stuck to the floor, when we try to make our feet move we
Also when turning around we may move our feet wrong causing us to lose our balance, another problem can be at the threshold of a door where for some unknown reason our feet don’t want to move and our balance is lost and we fall unless we think to take hold of the door frame.
We can also have a problem when faced with downward incline our legs feel like they are going to run away with us and in some cases may do just that. This is why many will choose to have some form of support when walking downhill and if on level ground they have good balance, which I don’t always have now days.
Many will find it difficult to get on and off a bus or train and maybe even in and out of some cars.
Walking in a crowd can be unsettling as if we get bumped it may cause us to lose our balance and fall, it is our slowness in movement that can cause such problems.
There are some particular movements that are affected by Parkinson’s such as turning over in bed, thankfully I don’t have a problem with that. Getting in and out of a bath is a problem which is why I now shower using a shower chair as standing causes me balance problems with the hot water and steam.
It is this fear of falling that increasingly limits our ability to do things. This is why exercise is important we need to keep our bodies moving and not allow our fear of falling to stop us doing stuff, or we may end up sitting in a chair wasting away. This naturally will affect our mental health leading to a state of depression it can be hard to find a way out of.
Time for a bit more of working life in the 1890’s back then it was well known saying that there was a pub on every corner in the cities and towns of Australia at the time.
These businesses employed the usual domestic staff tend to the kitchen work and make sure the accommodation for travellers. Of course there were barman and barmaids to serve the liquor and of course the barman were paid more then the barmaids. Men got around 20-30 shillings a week and women 15-2o shillings. These workers often had the advantage of free board and lodgings.
Turning the page in the book sees us at a section about work in the country. There were many numerous occupations including labouring jobs, carters, blacksmiths and stockriders.
There was also all the Aboriginal workers from the 1860’s Aborigines of both genders were employed and knew how to handle horses and cattle with great skill.
Aboriginal women from mission stations ere especially educated to be servants , what is so wrong is that many station proprietors neglected to pay these workers.
Hello Tuesday I hope everyone is doing well this morning, or night, or afternoon whenever you are reading this.
Today we are looking at the Burrowing Owl, this is a ground dwelling owl that makes it nests in burrows dug by other animals such as squirrels, armadillos, skunks and gophers in the open plains throughout North America.
Galloping across the ground on their long legs they pounce on their prey which include insects, small mammals, amphibians, reptiles and other birds at either dusk or dawn.
Left on their own in the burrow while parents hunt, juvenile owlets scare off predators my mimicking the sound of a rattlesnake.
The surround their nests with mammal waste this heady concoction attracts dung beetles which is one of the favourite foods.
The burrowing owl, also called the shoco, is a small, long-legged owl found throughout open landscapes of North and South America. Burrowing owls can be found in grasslands, rangelands, agricultural areas, deserts, or any other open, dry area with low vegetation
Jo-AnneRamplings 