Slept well (must have been due to all the wine I drank last night!), and didn’t waken until almost 9am. Immediately it’s evident that I have a lot more tremor this morning. I’m also feeling incredibly tired, in spite of my good night’s sleep. Dyskinesia in my right arm was a little more pronounced last night, while our guests were here. This morning it’s also more of a problem than it has been lately. Dystonia, balance, mood, all much as they have been. Energy – I’m whacked! Motivation – I just don’t feel like doing anything
My wife is off swimming with our granddaughter this morning, so I sit on the sofa, check my email, and do very little else (although I do manage to take the dog for a walk) for a couple of hours. I’m struggling to contain my tremor, and it’s a battle that I’m losing. Generally my tremor is fairly close to the surface, but manageable. My left leg, though, is a different matter. I can’t seem to keep it still for more than a handful of seconds, and it’s driving me mad. Should I adjust my neurostimulator? Should I self-medicate with some cannabis? I’ve been avoiding any device adjustments because I have been worried about increasing my dyskinesia. My dyskinesia is solely in my right arm at the moment, and this is related to the right hand side setting on my device. Right sided tremor isn’t the problem right now, so I could (in theory) adjust the voltage on my left side up a notch to try to calm my left sided tremor without affecting the right sided dyskinesia. My wife arrives back home, and asks me how I’m feeling. In response, I raise the voltage on the left hand by two notches (0.1v) – so now I’m getting 1.95v on the left side, and 2.3v on the right. I feel an immediate improvement. It isn’t perfect, but it’s an improvement. I resist the urge to increase the voltage a little more – I’ll give it 24 hours to settle. If I’m still struggling tomorrow lunchtime, I could always try switching from Group “A” settings to Group “B” – perhaps using a completely different program will help. Let’s just wait and see. In the meantime I’m having a beer (medicinal!) and some cannabis (medicinal!).