Podcasts

Episode 100: Nutrition Advice - Part 2

Nutrition is a vital component of maintaining and preserving good health. It may be an especially important consideration when one has a disease or other health condition that may impose certain dietary requirements or restrictions. At the same time, the standard recommendations for good health still stand – heart healthy eating, weight control, adequate fluid intake, limiting alcohol consumption, and more. With Parkinson’s disease, dietary choices and habits can help alleviate some symptoms. For example, fluid and fiber intake may help with constipation, increasing fluid intake may alleviate orthostatic hypotension, the feeling of dizziness when standing up, and a high protein meal can interfere with levodopa absorption, leading to fluctuations in medication effectiveness. In this second of two episodes with Dr. John Duda, Director of the Parkinson’s Disease Research, Education and Clinical Center at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Professor of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania, a Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence, he tells what he recommends about diet and nutrition for his Parkinson’s patients, including when to look for organically grown produce.

Released: March 9, 2021

Videos & Webinars

Expert Briefing: Medication: What’s New?

Medication options for Parkinson’s disease (PD) are constantly evolving and vary for each individual. Choosing medications depends on many variables; including motor fluctuations, symptom variability and other existing health issues. In this webinar, Dr. Rajesh Pahwa shares new treatment options to be on the lookout for within the next two years and explains who would be the best candidates for these new therapies available.

Presenter

Rajesh Pahwa, MD
Laverne and Joyce Rider Professor of Neurology
Chief, Parkinson and Movement Disorder Division
Director, Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence
University of Kansas Medical Center

Podcasts

Episode 107: Advocating for a Safe Hospitalization

As most people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and their care partners know, medication management is crucial for controlling PD symptoms. Given that many people need to take medication multiple times a day, “on time every time” becomes a way of life, regardless of where one is – at home, at work, visiting with friends, shopping, or traveling. Ironically, one of the most difficult places to get medications on your individual schedule is in the hospital. Hospitals have set times to dispense medications, so a hospitalized person with Parkinson’s or their care partner needs to impress upon the staff that Parkinson’s medicines have to be given on the patient’s schedule, not the hospital’s.

Rose Lang’s husband, John, fell and broke his hip, resulting in his transport to a local hospital and several hours in the emergency department. Fortunately, he brought some of his pills with him and took them while waiting to be admitted to a room in the hospital. But even then, Rose, a retired pharmacist, had to educate the medical and nursing staff about the need for John’s “pills on time, every time.” She is also a Parkinson’s Foundation Ambassador, so John arrived at the hospital with his Aware in Care kit, and Rose made ample use of the resources within the kit to inform and educate the hospital staff caring for her husband.

The Parkinson’s Foundation Hospital Safety Guide is the updated and improved version of the former Aware in Care Hospital Safety kit, which you’ll hear referenced in this episode. The Guide has new, vital information, based on research and feedback, prioritizing what is most important — staying safe and empowered when hospitalized with Parkinson’s.

To learn more about the updated Hospital Safety Guide, or for information about becoming a hospital safety focused Parkinson’s Foundation Ambassador, visit Parkinson.org/HospitalSafety.

Released: June 29, 2021
Updated: July 9, 2024

Videos & Webinars

Expert Briefing: Mental Health and PD

Parkinson's disease (PD) is complicated by a number of comorbid psychiatric symptoms that often overlap with the motor and other physical aspects of PD or may be caused by PD medications used to treat motor symptoms (e.g., impulse control disorders and dopamine agonists). In this webinar, Dr. Marsh will focus on the overlap of motor, cognitive, and psychiatric aspects of PD. Additionally, she will describe the features of comorbid psychiatric disturbances, including depression, anxiety and psychosis along with general approaches to treatment.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this webinar, the participants will:

  1. Understand the relationships between motor, cognitive and psychiatric dysfunction in PD over the course of the disease.
  2. Understand the common psychiatric diagnoses seen in patients with PD.
  3. Be familiar with appropriate treatments for neuropsychiatric disturbances in PD.

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Presenter

Laura Marsh, MD
Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology, Baylor College of Medicine
Director, Mental Health Care Line
Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center

Podcasts

Episode 76: Practicing Hospital Safety

When people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) are admitted to a hospital, it is most often not for their PD but for some other condition. Nonetheless, they have unique needs related to their PD that nurses and doctors may not be aware of. Thus, the patient or caregiver must inform the staff of those needs. A major consideration is the timing of medications. The typical hospital practice of dispensing medications every three or four hours may not work for someone with PD who has carefully worked with their neurologist on the best individual medication schedule that gives them the best outcomes. One helpful resource is the Parkinson’s Foundation’s free Hospital Safety Guide, which includes tools to help a person with Parkinson’s communicate what medications they take and at what time. The Hospital Safety Guide is the updated and improved version of the former Aware in Care Hospital Safety kit, which you’ll hear referenced in this episode. The Guide has new, vital information, based on research and feedback, prioritizing what is most important — staying safe and empowered when hospitalized with Parkinson’s.

In this episode, Edie Simpson, a retired neurology nurse from the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center in Phoenix, Arizona, a Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence, describes how hospitals typically operate and explains why a person with PD or a care partner must educate hospital staff and be an advocate for the hospitalized person to ensure the best and safest care possible.

To learn more about the updated Hospital Safety Guide, or for information about becoming a hospital safety focused Parkinson’s Foundation Ambassador, visit Parkinson.org/HospitalSafety.

Released: March 10, 2020
Updated: July 9, 2024

Videos & Webinars

Expert Briefing: Non-motor Symptoms: What’s New?

In this webinar, Dr. Pfeiffer will focus on the detection and effective treatment of non-motor symptoms other than traditional PD medications. He will address how non-motor symptoms, such as impaired sense of smell, sleep behavior changes, constipation and depression may be present years before the classic motor features of PD appear. You will take away specific recommendations on how to cope and live optimally with these non-motor symptoms.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this webinar, the participants will:

  1. Recognize that non-motor symptoms, such as impaired olfaction, REM sleep behavior disorder, pain, constipation and depression may be present years before the classic motor features of PD appear.
  2. Understand that non-motor features frequently become the most troublesome features of PD as it advances.
  3. Be aware that treatment other than traditional PD medications may be needed for non-motor features of PD.

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Presenter

Ronald Pfeiffer, MD
Oregon Health and Sciences University
OHSU Parkinson Center
Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence

Podcasts

Episode 99: Nutrition Advice - Part 1

A major thrust of Parkinson’s research today is exploring potential ways to slow the progression of the disease. Exercise may be one way and is recommended. Another possible approach is nutrition, although the evidence is not as solid as for exercise. Nonetheless, there is evidence that good nutrition and dietary practices can have beneficial effects for people with Parkinson’s, including lessening digestive symptoms, as well as preserving quality of life by lowering the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure, and dementia. Improving digestive function may even improve the absorption and actions of medications. Dr. John Duda, Director of the Parkinson’s Disease Research, Education and Clinical Center at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Professor of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania, a Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence, recommends a plant-based, whole foods diet. In this podcast, the first of two with Dr. Duda, he explains what a whole foods diet is, how it differs from a standard American diet, and how people can reliably and comfortably change the way they eat.

Released: February 23, 2021

Podcasts

Episode 75: Pharmacy Challenges with PD

Medication is a mainstay of treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD), and can vary for each person with PD. Each medication has its own properties, and healthcare professionals have reasons to choose certain ones at various times as conditions warrant. At those times, people with PD and their care partners need to ask questions about the reasons for starting specific medications, what they can expect, and whether they will interact well with other medications. This advice applies to all medications, not just ones for PD. All healthcare providers need to be aware that someone has PD and what medications they are taking because not only can they interact with other medications, but they may also affect what procedures can be performed and when.

Emily Peron, PharmD, of Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy in Richmond discusses these issues and more, with advice about medications, their effects and adverse effects, and medication changes.

Released: February 25, 2020
Updated: July 9, 2024

Videos & Webinars

Expert Briefing: Vision Changes

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Presenter

Dan Gold, DO
Assistant Professor of Neurology, Ophthalmology, Neurosurgery, Otolanryngology,
- Head and Neck Surgery, Emergency Medicine
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Podcasts

Episode 98: How to Talk about Impulse Control Disorders

It is estimated that about one in six people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) taking dopaminergic medication will develop an impulse control disorder (ICD) sometime during the course of their disease. Such impulsive behaviors may include uncontrolled gambling, eating, shopping, sexual activity, or punding, a purposeless activity in which a person repetitively organizes, sorts, or collects items. ICD’s are more likely to occur in older people on dopamine agonists than in younger people. Some forms of ICD can have devastating outcomes personally or within the family. Fortunately, these adverse effects of the drugs can often be managed well, especially if they are caught early, and in this regard, the family and care partners are key to recognizing and discussing them with the person with PD and the neurologist.

In this podcast, Dr. Gregory Pontone, Director of the Parkinson’s Neuropsychiatry Clinic at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, a Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence, discusses forms of ICD’s, some means to recognize them, and tools for communicating about them.

Released: February 9, 2021

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