A-Z Parkinson's: L

Laughter-Leaning-Lewy bodies-Lightheaded-Levodopa

• Laughter

An interior convulsion, producing a distortion of the features and accompanied by inarticulate noises.

No shortage of laughter and humour in the Parkinson’s community, as if we are at the gallows…

• Leaning

There’s no doubt Parkinson’s Disease makes you a little lopsided due to no balance.

Think of it as the most effective way to view the leaning tower of Piza.

• Lewy bodies

Lewy bodies are clumps of protein that can form in the brain.

Not a relation of Huey, Dewey or Donald.

• Lightheaded

Low blood pressure can be present in PD, resulting in dizzy spells. Sometimes it’s a balance thing and sometimes it’s a medication thing.

I like to imagine I am swooning on a velvet-clad chaise lounge, with a loving child wafting a fan and a concerned lover reading me romantic poetry. The reality is a quick check I’m not actually lying on the floor and then the household resumes its self-absorbed screen obsessions.

• Levodopa

Most common and potent medication for Parkinson’s.

By ‘potent’ they mean hardly works at all and by ‘common’ because there has been no funding to produce something that actually works.

Comes with a special array of side effects, many of which are worse than the disease.

dizziness, loss of appetite, diarrhoea, dry mouth, mouth and throat pain, constipation, change in sense of taste, forgetfulness or confusion, nervousness, nightmares, difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, headache, weakness, unusual or uncontrolled movements of the mouth, tongue, face, head, neck, arms, and legs, fast, irregular, or pounding heartbeat, increased sweating, chest pain, depression, thoughts of death or killing oneself, hallucinating, swelling of the face, throat, tongue, lips, eyes, hands, feet, ankles, or lower legs, hoarseness, difficulty swallowing or breathing, hives, weakness, numbness, or loss of sensation in the fingers or feet, black and tarry stools, red blood in stools, fever, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, bloody vomit, vomit that looks like coffee grounds.

Fun.