When Life Gives You Parkinson's

This podcast and these show notes talk about suicide. If you are thinking about taking your own life or are worried about a friend or a loved one, call your suicide prevention hotline. It is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week in Canada. Call 1-833-456-4566. In the United States, it's 1-800-273-8255. Please ask for help. Reach out and talk to somebody. Your life is worth living. A full lis...

In this episode of When Life Gives You Parkinson’s, Larry Gifford talks with three friends with Parkinson’s who set out to test the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual limits of the human body after diagnosis. What they discovered was that challenges in life, no matter how extreme, are easier and more rewarding when you build a community of support around you and allow yourself to be vulner...

This is a special bonus episode of the When Life Gives You Parkinson’s podcast called “Extra Dosage.” Full episodes of Season 2 are available every other Wednesday. In this episode of When Life Gives You Parkinson’s I visit Jillian Carson, 59, at her new Parkinson’s Wellness Centre in Victoria, British Columbia. It’s a dream that I thought would never happen.” Carson, a retired physiotherapist and...

In this episode of When Life Gives You Parkinson’s I talk with three friends about Deep Brain Stimulation. Becca Miller is contemplating it, David Sangster just had it and Jim Smerdon had it five years ago. “You hear everything,” said Jim Smerdon of Vancouver, B.C. when I asked what he heard when doctors drilled a hole through his skull and into his brain. “It was the clearest memory I’ve ever had...

This is a special bonus episode of the When Life Gives You Parkinson’s podcast which we are calling “Extra Dosage.” Full episodes of Season 2 are available every other Wednesday. Every six months, I visit Dr. Jonathon Squires at UBC’s Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health. He is my neurologist and movement disorder specialist. Last week, my wife Rebecca and I sat down with him after our exami...

When Joy was 16-years old, she fell in love with Leslie. Back then, he smelled good. “He had a wonderful male musk smell,” she says. Dr. and Mrs. Leslie and Joy Milne were later married. Les became a consultant anesthetist and she was a nurse practitioner. Sixteen years later, his body odor changed – for the worse. He smelled off, overly musky and unpleasant. Joy even nudged him to wash more. Twel...

This is a special bonus episode of the When Life Gives You Parkinson’s podcast which we are calling “Extra Dosage.” Full episodes of Season 2 are available every other Wednesday. At the first in a series of events called “Parkinson’s IQ + You” presented by The Michael J. Fox Foundation, hundreds of people gathered in Atlanta to learn how to take control of their health care, build their care team...

Guest writer Rebecca Gifford, the wife of Larry Gifford In this episode of When Life Gives You Parkinson’s, Larry and I explore how we keep the magic alive in the bedroom and beyond when there is always an elephant (a.k.a Parkinson’s disease) in there with us eating peanuts and taking up a lot of space. Your bed. It’s your private space. It’s restful, probably even peaceful sometimes, and hopefull...

After my diagnosis with Parkinson’s disease, my first call was to the Parkinson Society of British Columbia. They were quick to offer information on support groups and mailed a packet of brochures, handouts and relevant information that immediately made me feel less anxious and more informed. That is why each year my family raises money and walks in the Parkinson SuperWalk in Vancouver. This year...

Around the world there continues to be a worldwide cry for help in the Parkinson’s community. Since October 2018, there has been a global shortage of SINEMET®®®. This is the brand name version of levodopa-carbidopa, the gold-standard drug, used to treat Parkinson’s disease, which Merck packages and sells. It started with a supply shortage, which lead to a third-party manufacturer change. Anytime y...

This is a special bonus episode of the When Life Gives You Parkinson’s podcast which we are calling “Extra Dosage.” Full episodes of Season 2 are available every other Wednesday. This Extra Dosage is about a young man and his family, using their passion for running, to help raise funds for Parkinson’s research. Anthony Kerkman, 32, lives in Pickerington, Ohio in an idyllic neighbourhood with spraw...

A year ago, I started the podcast When Life Gives You Parkinson’s. I had been diagnosed a year earlier, on August 17, 2017, with Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease at the age of 45. I can feel the disease progressing. I update my co-host Niki Reitmayer on my symptoms. In the last six months, I continue to have trouble getting a good night’s sleep, I’m now battling day time fatigue. I have long stretc...

Larry Gifford is a 47 years old husband and dad with a great career and a degenerative brain disorder without a cure. Join him, his wife Rebecca and their son Henry as they share with you, and co-host Niki Reitmayer, the journey into what it’s like to live and work with the disease. Season 2 launches Wednesday September 4th. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a special bonus episode of When Life Gives You Parkinson’s which we are calling “Extra Dosage.” Full episodes of Season 2 of the podcast will be released every other Wednesday beginning in September 2019.   If you were to imagine Michael J. Fox in your mind right now. You probably are picturing the guy from Back to the Future or The Good Wife. Think about when you’ve seen him interviewed o...

I am in Kyoto, Japan for the 5th World Parkinson Congress (WPC). WPC is a global Parkinson's event, which is held every three years and it opens its doors to all members of the Parkinson's community, from neurologists and researchers to those living with the disease.      The WPC wrapped up the fourth and final day by announcing Barcelona, Spain as the next destination for the World Parkinson Cong...

I am in Kyoto, Japan for the 5th World Parkinson Congress (WPC). WPC is a global Parkinson's event, which is held every three years and it opens its doors to all members of the Parkinson's community, from neurologists and researchers to those living with the disease.    Parkinson’s has often been described as an old, white man’s disease. The truth is Parkinson’s is not that exclusive of a club. In...

I am in Kyoto, Japan for the 5th World Parkinson Congress (WPC). WPC is a global Parkinson's event, which is held every three years and it opens its doors to all members of the Parkinson's community, from neurologists and researchers to those living with the disease. Joy Milne of Perth, Scotland fell in love with Les Milne when they were 16 years old. They married, had three kids, he was a doctor...

I am in Kyoto, Japan for the 5th World Parkinson Congress (WPC). WPC is a global Parkinson's event, which is held every three years and it opens its doors to all members of the Parkinson's community, from neurologists and researchers to those living with the disease.     Opening ceremonies were held on June 4, 2019 at the Kyoto International Conference Center. More than 2,600 registrants are in at...

In June, I will be traveling to Kyoto, Japan for the 5thWorld Parkinson Congress(WPC). WPC is a global Parkinson's event that opens its doors to all members of the Parkinson's community, from neurologists and researchers to those living with the disease.  Since my diagnosis in August 2017, I’ve launched the podcast When Life Gives You Parkinson’s. As an extension of that podcast, I have teamed up...

In June, I will be traveling to Kyoto, Japan for the 5th World Parkinson Congress(WPC). WPC is a global Parkinson's event that opens its doors to all members of the Parkinson's community, from neurologists and researchers to those living with the disease.  Since my diagnosis in August 2017, I’ve launched the podcast When Life Gives YouParkinson’s. As an extension of that podcast, I have teamed up...

In June, I will be traveling to Kyoto, Japan for the 5thWorld Parkinson Congress(WPC). WPC is a global Parkinson's event that opens its doors to all members of the Parkinson's community, from neurologists and researchers to those living with the disease.  Since my diagnosis in August 2017, I’ve launched the podcast When Life Gives YouParkinson’s. As an extension of that podcast, I have teamed up w...

In June, I will be traveling to Kyoto, Japan for the 5thWorld Parkinson Congress(WPC). WPC is a global Parkinson's event that opens its doors to all members of the Parkinson's community, from neurologists and researchers to those living with the disease.  Since my diagnosis in August 2017, I’ve launched the podcast When Life Gives YouParkinson’s. As an extension of that podcast, I have teamed up w...

In this episode I speak with Gila Bronner, founder and former Director of the Sex Therapy Service at Sheba Medical Center in Israel. She is also a sex therapist at the Movement Disorders Institute of the medical center. She tells me Neurologists, nurses, and other health professionals, in general, are not taught about sexual issues patients may have, where to refer them when issues arise, or how t...

In this special episode of When Life Gives You Parkinson’s, the Parkinson’s community from around the world come together to share what they believe you should know about this disease. I also interview Matt Eagles. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s when he was 8-years-old. He just helped to create and launch a new initiative called “Parky Life.” Follow me, Larry Gifford  Twitter: @ParkinsonsPod Fa...

In this episode, I talk with Dr. Aleksander Videnovic, a neurologist specializing is movement disorders and sleep medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Videnovic will be speaking at WPC and hosting a roundtable, both of which will focus on Tips and Tricks to Managing Sleep Disorders in Parkinson’s. This link will take you to the full program schedule. The first...