An old friend and work colleague is visiting today – I haven’t seen her for a good many years, so it will be good to catch up. I’m a bit concerned that my tremor is going to be a distraction so I’ll have to have a fiddle about with my device settings. My wife disappears off to North Walsham to buy some food for our lunch, and I take the dog for her morning constitutional.
I’m having to switch between my Group ‘A’ and Group ‘B’ settings increasingly frequently because, although my tremor disappears when new settings are chosen, it returns more quickly each time. So does dystonia. And dyskinesia (but only with Group ‘B’ settings). So what are the differences between these groups of settings? Well, each group utilises (in my case) a different contact (or set of contacts) on the electrodes that are implanted in my brain. Differing voltages are applied to these different contacts, and a host of other parameters may also be set, such as polarity, frequency and pulse width. The aim, in each case, is to block signals from overactive neurons in a certain area of my brain. So different groups of settings with but one aim – there’s more than one way to skin a cat! I don’t know why the settings lose their effectiveness over time… perhaps my brain gets used to it, and decides to ignore the stimulus, or perhaps it’s just that my advancing Parkinson’s Disease means that more (or different) stimulation is required (and that’s a frightening thought, because it means that my illness is advancing at a rapid pace). I did turn my device off for 10 minutes this morning to see how things were without it. I have either deteriorated significantly in the last 3 months, or the deep brain stimulation has made me forget how bad I was. I’ll choose to believe the latter.
My friend arrives and we spend he next few hours reminiscing about work colleagues, catching up on family events and, of course, eating some lunch. We wrap it up with a short dog walk over at the village hall, and then she’s on her way. I started off on Group ‘A’, changed to Group ‘B’ just after she arrived, and reverted to Group ‘A’ again shortly before she departed (dyskinesia, more than tremor, prompted this).
We have now had some dinner (leftovers from lunch) and opened a beer. I’m thinking about another setting change, but I’ll wait a while yet – maybe my tremor and dystonia will calm down with the alcohol.