I just came to your brilliant concept of "dopamine points" that you so casually interjected; that is a spot-on way to characterize day to day living with PD. It's like you're at the arcade playing Skee-Ball and it's spitting out tickets and you need to decide what you're going to trade them in for today. Will it be the army guy? Fake tattoo? A wad of bubblegum? Or do you try to save them up so you can get an even better prize? The whoopie cushion? A box of four crayons? Sweet tarts? We literally have to deliberate how best to spend the limited energy that we have available each and every day. I feel another post brewing... Thanks for the muse!
Making the most of the times your body cooperates sounds very familiar to me, especially now I'm crashing after that embroidery project! Useful in a way, but payback is a bitch xx
I typically have but one or two points during the day when the entirety of my systems are in sufficient alignment to do something other than rock out to dyskinesia or sit like a stone waiting for my meds to kick in. Those times are a precious commodity, and I often struggle deciding what to use it for. Mercifully, my partner understands this and supports me if I choose the brief bit of drumming that I can manage before my dopamine stores dry up over, say, taking out the trash or unloading the dishwasher. Or to write so I can make sense of all this. These periods are far to fleeting and far too brief.
I just came to your brilliant concept of "dopamine points" that you so casually interjected; that is a spot-on way to characterize day to day living with PD. It's like you're at the arcade playing Skee-Ball and it's spitting out tickets and you need to decide what you're going to trade them in for today. Will it be the army guy? Fake tattoo? A wad of bubblegum? Or do you try to save them up so you can get an even better prize? The whoopie cushion? A box of four crayons? Sweet tarts? We literally have to deliberate how best to spend the limited energy that we have available each and every day. I feel another post brewing... Thanks for the muse!
hahah! I look forward to reading you thoughts :)
Making the most of the times your body cooperates sounds very familiar to me, especially now I'm crashing after that embroidery project! Useful in a way, but payback is a bitch xx
haha, isn't it!?
I typically have but one or two points during the day when the entirety of my systems are in sufficient alignment to do something other than rock out to dyskinesia or sit like a stone waiting for my meds to kick in. Those times are a precious commodity, and I often struggle deciding what to use it for. Mercifully, my partner understands this and supports me if I choose the brief bit of drumming that I can manage before my dopamine stores dry up over, say, taking out the trash or unloading the dishwasher. Or to write so I can make sense of all this. These periods are far to fleeting and far too brief.
I do try not to spend the dopamine points on housework! But alas! Domesticity always wins :)
That or a shower…