Stanford PD Community Blog

During a November webinar, psychiatrist Dr. Elizabeth Santos noted that care partners can and do experience feelings of great joy, deep love, increased affection, and happiness for successfully navigating the changing reality of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Care partners can also experience high levels of anxiety, sadness, depression, anger, frustration, and exhaustion while navigating this changing reality.  She emphasized that all of these feelings are normal and well within the normal boundaries of human existence.  Dr. Santos explained that caregivers taking care of their own mental health needs is just as important as taking care of their physical health.  We at Stanford Parkinson’s Community Outreach attended this webinar, and are sharing our notes.  (While the Parkinson’s Foundation hosted this webinar, there is nothing PD-specific here.)

This is the third of three webinars in a new “Let’s Keep Moving with APDA: Your PD Exercise Toolkit” series by the American Parkinson Disease Association (APDA).  The speaker is a physical therapist with the APDA National Rehabilitation Resource Center for Parkinson’s Disease (PD).  The focus of the Thursday, December 9th webinar is how to keep your motivation strong so you stick with your program and make progress. 

Stanford’s Human Motor Control and Neuromodulation Lab is seeking those with Parkinson’s disease (PD) who already have the Medtronic Percept PC deep brain stimulation (DBS) system to participate in the ADAPT-PD clinical trial.  ADAPT-PD stands for Adaptive DBS Algorithm for Personalized Therapy in Parkinson’s Disease.   The trial is testing the use of adaptive DBS — a mode that adjusts or adapts DBS therapy automatically based on certain brain signals. 

In October, Duke Health hosted a virtual session for caregivers on conscious self-care. The session featured geriatric social worker Bryan Godfrey, who reviewed how stressors a caregiver might face, and how self-care can prevent burnout.  Burnout is feeling like you no longer find pleasure in things you once found enjoyable, difficulty concentrating, difficulty sleeping, or weight changes.  According to the speaker, a high-stress environment combined with unrealistic expectations will lead to burn out.  In comparison, a change to a lower stressful environment combined with saying “no,” having realistic expectations, and practicing proactive self-care can lead to growth.  (There was nothing Parkinson’s-specific about this session.)