Parkinson's Disease and Sleep

There is one thing many Parkies have in common; sleep abnormalities.  I had Parkinson's disease for at least eight years before getting diagnosed and NEVER had trouble sleeping, in fact, sleeping was the one thing I could do to relieve my symptoms.  Exactly three months after I started taking Sinemet (carbi/levodopa) for my symptoms, I started waking up early, very early, like before Mr. Sunshine even thinks about peeking his bright face over the mountains to my east.  This lack of eight plus hours should have made me grumpy, but it did not.  My humor was intact, maybe more so.

The first morning I awoke early was New Years Day and I got a crazy idea.  I had a bench in my yard that I put Bears on (more thrift store goodies), dressed up for the holidays and I had Bears dressed in formal wear for New Year's Eve, the night before. It was about 4 am and I knew that none of my neighbors would be stirring at this hour, heck, most had just gone to bed.  

So, I started searching for what I needed.  I went down to the community hall and found empty beer cans and party favors,  then I raided my own closet, the costume box and some household items.  By 5 am, I had all I needed and re-set the Bears for the neighbors to wake up to.  And what a wake-up it was..........their laughter and hooting woke up my Wonderful Husband about 7 am, poor fellow.  By noon, cars from the neighboring communities were driving through, taking pictures.   

You see, my Bears had a wild night, they were in their undies, Mr. Bear was hanging upside down with a lampshade on his head and Mrs. Bear was passed out with Mr. Bears pants on her head.  OH, my!!!  It was shocking.  Especially since the Bears owners did not drink, at all.  Some people thought that someone else had done it and that I would be upset.  Boy, did I have them fooled!  Many more Holiday "mornings after" followed and neighbors began to look forward to what I would come up with next.  I had a blast, while everyone else slept.

PS I still do most of my creative stuff while everyone else is sleeping.......like writing this blog story.

Clicking on colored words in a story will open another window and take you to a different story or link.

Thank you for reading this story, I hope you enjoyed it. This is just one of a hundred stories in my book, Parkinson's Humor - Funny Stories about My Life with Parkinson's Disease. Please consider purchasing a copy from Amazon.com or your favorite online book seller. Thank you and have a Happy Parkie Day!