This is Karen's brain at night:

[This is an unedited blog post that I just noticed in my rapidly expanding "Drafts that should never be sent" file. I thought, just for fun, that I should share this episode of  "What Karen is writing late at night." Enjoy the glimpse into my brain: . ..]

I'vllllldllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll\llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll///////////



[I'm thinking that I don't do my best writing at night anymore!]

Original text, written by me late one night in April, 2018, finally posted instead of deleted like I usually do with posts of this quality and craftsmanship, on August 25, 2018.



























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































As I hav \\d

Impulse Control and Parkinsons

Mirapex was the first drug I was prescribed after my diagnosis as "Parkinsonian". It was a relatively new drug back in 2005 when I started to take it. One of the known side effects was lowered impulse control for people with problem gambling. I told the neurologist I don't gamble. I don't even buy lottery tickets. (Lottery tickets are a way for the government to get poor people to pay extra taxes. IMHO).

When I started on Mirapex, I didn't get a sudden urge to go play Bingo or buy a lottery ticket. But when it came to behaviours I already had impulse control issues, like shopping I think that the drug has made it much more difficult to control myself.

My husband says that I have always had a problem with impulsive shopping and he is right. I can't count how often I have come home with a new dress or earrings or something. I would tell him my side of the story: how the dress attacked me as I walked by the store. Those bright red "SALE" signs would lure me in, and then "HieeYaah!!!" The dress jumped down on me, grabbed my credit card right out of my purse, and dragged me to the cashier.

After taking Mirapex, I am sure that these attacks got worse. Fortunately for me, I wasn't actually getting to the stores as often, because I had to surrender my drivers license. (Mirapex has to be declared when you renew your license, and my driving abilities were also at risk because of the other symptoms of Parkinsons). But then I discovered online shopping!

Wow, what a world we live in. I can buy dresses from a factory in India, and they come right to my door! I had better stop writing this, my fingers are itching to go to Cyber India. Cyber India is nice anytime of year. Not too hot or too cold, just room temperature. And I can go there in my pyjamas.

Parkinson Humour

• Parkinson Humour – Because if you can laugh at yourself with Parkinsons, really laugh at the potentially humorous parts of this nasty disease, then even if a cure is not found in your life time, you’ll still be laughing all way to stage six. There is a sixth stage that no one told you about?

• Stage Six: At a Parkinson support group meeting I was talking about the five stages of PD; and a fellow asked what happens at stage six. I said that stage six is the one where they hand out the halos and the.white robes. So if you can laugh at yourself with PD, you will still be laughing when you and God are kicking back, sharing a huge bowl of extra buttery popcorn while watching your funeral on the big screen multidimensional TV in Heaven.

• People With Parkinson's don't do buffet: Or,at least they shouldn't! And yet, every Parkinson Conference that I have attended has included a breakfast, snack, and lunch – all served buffet style. I pity the cleaning crew.

• People With Parkinson's still got Rhythm:  I’ve still got ma groove thang goin’ on, I just have to find music that matches my dyskinesias. (The sound track to the movie Footloose comes close. The original version, with Kevin Bacon. Who was in the movie JFK in 1991 with Dale Dye, who was in Casualties of War in 1989 with Michael J. Fox. Who has Parkinson's disease. Like me! Three degrees of separation!)