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Any given month at least a dozen Parkinson’s disease patients and caregivers gather for support, share experiences and bust myths about the disease.
The Luverne Parkinson’s disease support group will celebrate its third year in existence this fall.
At their April 18 meeting last week, the group recognized April is Parkinson’s Disease Awareness Month.
Dianne Karlstad started the local support group after she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2015.
The local group’s first meeting was August 2016.
“After every meeting they thank me, but I don’t do much,” Karlstad insisted. “I want to talk as much as the rest of them.”
Talk is an integral activity of those who gather every third Thursday, whether among themselves or with a guest speaker. The doors of St. John Lutheran Church on Cedar Street in Luverne open at 1 p.m. to the gathering in the atrium area.
For Karlstad, the group lessened her fears of living with Parkinson’s and turned her thoughts to living a more vibrant life, the theme of this year’s Parkinson’s Disease Awareness Month.
She’s also exercised at Power Fitness with several members of the support group.
“The more exercise we can get, the better we can feel,” she said.
Discussions have also led Karlstad and other patients to see a movement specialist in Sioux Falls, and new medications improved their day-to-day routines.
However, recent television and radio commercials about a new oral medication to treat hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson’s have dimmed Karlstad’s vibrant attitude.
“Very few Parkinson’s disease patients have hallucinations unless their medication has changed or been adjusted,” she said.
Parkinson’s disease is a chronic and progressive disease of the nervous system marked by tremors, muscle rigidity, and slow, imprecise movement. The symptoms worsen over time and there is no cure.
For more information about the Parkinson’s disease support group, contact Karlstad at 507-530-3307.