Yes, I have Parkinson's disease.

Yesterday, Tuesday, April 11th, was World Parkinson's Disease Awareness Day, a disease that affects about 1% of the world's population over the age of 65, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). 

The date inspired me to write this text. I should have done it yesterday, but the day was taken up with washing dishes and preparing beans and chicken stew with cassava. That's how it is with Parkinson's, one thing at a time and each thing at its own pace, depending on the stage of the disease.

In Brazil, it is estimated that 200 people suffer from the disease, caused by the continuous decline of dopamine-producing cells in the brain, progressively preventing the performance of voluntary body movements; because of this, the person with Parkinson's loses the ability to control or initiate these movements.

The disease affects the central nervous system and is initially characterized by tremors in the limbs and, over time, throughout the body, as well as various types of involuntary movements. Progressively, rigidity, speech problems, loss of smell, sleep disorders, altered bowel rhythm, and depression also appear. Yes, depression too.

But take heart, current and future sufferers of the disease, because "no one dies of Parkinson's," my neurologist told me nine years ago, in 2014, when I was diagnosed with the disease. I was 67 years old. Normally, the disease affects those over 60, but there are cases where it can manifest much earlier, as was the case with actor Michael J. Fox, diagnosed at age 29.

Okay, you don't die from Parkinson's, but the disease, which has no cure, slowly consumes you: tremors and muscle rigidity increasingly hinder movement as time goes by. This is without even mentioning the difficulties in swallowing and speaking. This forces you, if you want to have a reasonable quality of life, to do exercises and physiotherapy all the time. And speech therapy. Not to mention the medication (in my case, levodopa) that will accompany you for the rest of your life. Because Parkinson's is a progressive and degenerative disease, it will progress and worsen regardless of the medication. It's just a matter of time.

Currently, I'm doing special water aerobics for people with Parkinson's disease (an initiative of my wife, Tetê, and my daughters, Juliana and Marina), and physiotherapy. I did speech therapy for three consecutive years, but I decided (who knows why) to take a break. But I promise, I'll resume it.

And I also decided to start taking antidepressants. Although I resisted using them for so long, I think the time has come - previously, about 20 years ago, I underwent treatment with antidepressants and anxiolytics due to an anxiety crisis (or panic disorder).

Trembling in public is very unpleasant and embarrassing. But, little by little, I'm accepting the illness and showing myself more, as in this article. What can you do, right?

Cooking, one of my greatest pleasures, is becoming increasingly difficult, but yesterday, as I mentioned above, I made beans and chicken stew with cassava. 

It's difficult, yes, but we'll keep trying. 

I am currently researching the use of cannabis (the popular marijuana) in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. I even participated, as a volunteer, in a study conducted by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, through the Cannabis and Parkinson's Research Group.

But that's a topic for another article.

For now, let's move forward, others are coming behind us…