A third through seventh symptomatic benefit
[Updated – 11/24/20]
In two prior posts (here and here) I reported on symptomatic improvements I've experienced while doing the JWH protocol. The first was a substantial reduction in anxiety/fatigue. This has been a major improvement, as the anxiety/fatigue fusion was, for some time, by far my most debilitating PD symptom. Second was the disappearance of a patch of seborrheic dermatitis on the side of my nose. These are improvements in symptoms along the road to coming off pause. [Update – 11/24/20: And I believe they may, themselves, indicate a chipping away at the depth of pause] at which time, you might say, the final, more dramatic phase of recovery begins.
I've waited on reporting further symptomatic improvements, wanting to be sure they were lasting. Also, I don't spend a lot of time thinking about these symptomatic improvements. (That said, as a list they do provide me reassuring evidence that I'm on track, and the anxiety/fatigue reduction gave me unmistakable evidence of the psychological underpinnings of my most troublesome symptom.) The prospect of turning off pause is a bigger deal. But my impression is that people considering the protocol wonder about this sort of thing. So here are several additional symptomatic improvements I've experienced:
Diminished tremor. [Conservatively, perhaps 30% less overall.]
Improved swallowing. [When taking supplements, I swallow multiple pills much more easily.]
Less excessive mucus production.
Much less orthostatic hypotension. [This had progressed to become fairly troubling around a year ago. Now it essentially never happens.]
Seem to have mellowed a bit in certain interactions with my wife. [I'm told I less often respond with a harsh tone, a habit of which I was often unaware when it happened, but which had developed in the environment I grew up in and was compounded in its effect by the monotone voice common to many with PD.]
Concerning other symptoms of note, mediocre sleep quality and blunted sense of smell may have improved slightly. I've not yet seen any significant reduction in the bradykinesia in my right hand and arm, nor much reduction in some annoying muscle tension arising in my right leg. When any of those improve in significant, lasting ways, or as I experience more dramatic recovery symptoms, I'll report back.