Connecting the Dots: Parkinson’s Disease and the Autonomic Nervous System

The autonomic nervous system is fascinating!  It is the system that “automatically” controls the things that go on in our body without our thinking or consciously controlling.  Our temperature control, for example, is one of its functions.  When we get hot, our blood vessels near the skin dilate to let heat escape, and we produce sweat to cool use through evaporation.  The autonomic system also controls digestion, the “fight or flight” response, breathing and much more.  We can consciously influence it to a degree (holding your breath, for example), but most of what it does is just automatic.

Parkinson’s disease can influence the autonomic nervous system years before the typical tremor appears. As I look at the list of symptoms associated with Parkinson’s, I can connect many dots.  I lost most of my sense of smell 15-20 years ago.  That’s one of the dots!  

About 5 years ago, bladder spasm began to be an issue.  Medication, avoidance of caffeine, and decreased intake of fluids helped some.  I recognized the connection between thinking about or being close to the bathroom with initiation of the spasm.  I was considering looking into biofeedback as an option to control this.  But then, to my surprise, when I started the medication, carbidopa/levodopa, for the Parkinson’s tremor, the bladder spasms went away!

Hyperhidrosis, or excessive sweating, has been a problem for several years.  During the summer, especially if working in the garden, I have generally needed to shower and change clothes a couple times a day.  I get what might be similar to hot flashes, and need to stand in front of the fan to cool off.  Another dot connected to Parkinson’s.

Maybe connected but also possibly due to excess sweating is postural hypotension.  That’s the lightheaded feeling you can get when you stand up quickly, sometimes with black out of vision and fainting.  My blood pressure has generally been on the low side since switching to a plant-based diet 14 years ago.  It had been running around 140/90 before, but now runs around 110/70.  That, combined with the sweating, and decreased fluid consumption because of bladder issues certainly can account for postural hypotension.  I need to be careful when playing on the floor with my grandson or weeding in the garden.  I need to stand up in stages and hold on to something until my head clears.  Maybe another dot connected to Parkinson’s.

Yet another may be constipation.  Despite eating a completely plant-based diet with well over 40 grams a fiber a day, I have had episodes of constipation.  I blamed this on the bladder medicine and fluid restriction. Prunes, more fluid and caffeine, as well as the carbidopa/levodopa all seem to be helping with this.

One more dot may be fatigue.  It was the fatigue that first alerted me to something being wrong in a more significant way.  I noticed this first about 4 years ago when I couldn’t keep up with my wife when we cycled.  My physician looked for tick related diseases, and other basic things, which all were normal.  I was, however, reluctant to chalk this up to aging.  I wondered if I had a milder form of long-term COVID, or if I might even be depressed.  I had things I wanted to do but just seemed to lack the energy to do them.  Now it makes sense!

There are potentially several more dots that connect, like the back pain that has improved with the carbidopa/levodopa, visual changes, and a couple other things.  It all makes sense.  In a way, it is reassuring!  I was beginning to think I was a hypochondriac!  

The body is fascinating!  It is amazing that it works well for as long as it does for as many people as it does!  I wonder how many other people are suffering from seemingly isolated symptoms that would make sense if they could connect the dots to Parkinson’s or some other illness.  But that is all 20-20 hindsight.  I certainly wouldn’t recommend that everyone become preoccupied with every ache, pain or problem, looking for something underlying it.  That would be unhealthy, and probably a waste of time and energy anyway.

So, at least for me, having connected the dots, I think I am finding a bit more freedom to enjoy the present, seeking to make the most of life with all that I can, while I can.  We will all come to the end of our physical life sooner or later.  Some of us have some warning, and a clearer idea of what that might look like.  Others may have no prior warning.  Either way, worry won’t help, but may actually make it worse, robbing of energy and time that could be more productively used.

We are wonderfully and wholistically made, body, soul and spirit (however those are defined), all interdependent, all fascinating to observe and learn about, even when, as the observer, I am also the object.