Stanford PD Community Blog

On November 5th PMD Alliance hosted a webinar on How the Brain Progresses with PD.  Neurologist Yasar Torres-Yaghi shared how the pathology of Parkinson’s disease begins in the gut, then progresses to the olfactory bulb before invading the entire brain. 

Although Parkinson’s is thought of as a movement disorder, as the pathology expands throughout the body it affects more than just movement.  Dr. Torres-Yaghi listed several non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s before focusing on common cognitive changes and the neurotransmitter deficits that contribute to them.

On November 12th the Davis Phinney Foundation hosted a webinar on Mental Wellness for Parkinson’s Care Partners.  The speaker was social worker Elaine Book who touched briefly on several aspects of caregiver wellbeing with Davis Phinney Foundation moderator, Melanie Dizon.  Topics broached included ambiguous loss, stress reduction tips to prevent caregiver burnout, communicating about changes brought about by Parkinson’s, self-care during COVID, and more.

On December 8th PMD Alliance hosted a webinar as part of their wHolistic series on Hospitalization and Parkinson’s: What to Do, What to Know.  Movement disorder specialist Stephen Reich, MD, spoke for an hour about what you need to know in order to advocate for your care and make the hospitalization experience better.

CurePSP hosted a day-long conference for patients, families, and caregivers living with neurodegenerative diseases, including Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), an atypical parkinsonism disorder. The speaker was Jessica Shurer, LCSW at UNC Movement Disorders Center. She talked about informing family and friends of a diagnosis in order to gather support, and how family dynamics can change after a diagnosis. (We are sharing these notes with those in the Parkinson’s community since there was nothing PSP-specific about the talk.  The “diagnosis” could be any condition.)

On November 18th, the Parkinson’s Foundation held a Care Partner Town Hall on the topic of Self-Care @ Home.  Two social workers from the Parkinson’s Foundation took turns sharing information about self-care challenges caregivers face, tips for celebrating the holidays safely during the covid pandemic, self-care tips for a less stressful holiday, and their favorite web pages with self-care resources, including a caregiver assessment tool.