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Where to begin........
Some of you may know that I have been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease for about 8-9 years now. It seems to be a kind of "designer disease" as it seems to have many different formats. It is said that once you have met someone with Parkinson's disease, you have met someone with Parkinson's disease, as each individual seems to have their own special combination of symptoms.
Most folks associate Parkinson's with uncontrollable, debilitating shaking, usually of hands. Thankfully, that is one major symptom that was left out of my individual portfolio. I do however have extended periods of what is called "off time" with associated slowness of movement or maybe even an inability to move. It has not yet ceased to amaze me ( not in a good way ) how I can go from 60 - 0 in 10 or 15 minutes from when I start to feel the stiffness and slowness that makes it difficult or impossible to start a nut onto a bolt. These problems are certainly a major factor contributing to limiting my involvement in this forum. I never had been a particularly good typist, but that has degraded to a dismal battle of wills between myself and the keyboard.
I have been taking various combinations of drugs, in varying quantities, to try to control these symptoms, always with mixed results. At best, they can work very well. I can periodically string together 2 or 3 days where the symptoms are essentially negligible/non-existent, sleep fairly well, and function at my usual level of idiocy. Then, as today, I woke up about 5:30 am and was able to get through the shower and dressed by 3:30 this afternoon. As you can imagine, this is not particularly conducive to having a productive day or maintaining a schedule of any kind in either my business or personal life. If there is a bright side to this, it is that I have been gratefully forced to realize what a wonderful, forgiving, supportive group of friends, neighbors, and customers I have come to be associated with in my 64 years of collecting said personalities. Oh, and lets not forget the medical professionals that have been involved along the way. Go ahead, bitch about our health care system all you want. You will get little sympathy from me. Anyone that would voluntarily involve themselves, at any price, with folks like me and our problems, has my eternal gratitude, which at it's best is woefully insufficient to the requirement.
My major stumbling block has been eating. The carbidopa / levodopa that is the main weapon in the daily battle to control the symptoms is only absorbed by a short section of the small intestine. If this section is involved with absorbing other nutrients, proteins for example, or is chronologically behind a large meal, it doesn't get absorbed. Add to this the fact that levodopa has a half life in the bloodstream of something like 45-60 minutes, it is very difficult to take drugs 4-5 times a day between eating and sleeping. Consequently, starting at a lifelong weight of 185# - 195# ( I wrestled in the 182# weight class as a freshman in high school) to my current 150# - 160#.
All this leading up to the current questions. The doctors have recommended, and I am currently scheduled, (after being delayed by covid 19) to undergo Deep Brain Stimulation surgery on the 2nd of June.
#1; Has anyone here, that would care to share their experiences and/or recommendations, undergone this DBS procedure?
#2; Were you advised/required to discontinue arc welding because of this?
#3; Did you?
#4; Does anyone know of any PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) that would be applicable or effective in mitigating the dangers associated with possible inductive voltages or currents when exposed to EMI or RFI in the given scenario?
All opinions considered, and valued at the price paid.
David
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