People sometimes ask what it feels like to have Parkinson’s disease. It’s really difficult to describe. Parkinson’s is ever-present but does not cause me acute physical distress – not at the moment anyway. The only physical pain I sometimes get is in the back of the neck, especially when I’m walking or when I’ve been sitting for some time. The body strains to keep everything going, but that strain to communicate from brain to limb seems to get clogged in the neck and the dull pain prevents me from relaxing. Something similar happens with my exercise bike: nice comfy seat, large pedals, supporting bars and handlebars… but the optimum cycling position becomes a pain in the neck after a couple of minutes and forces me to punctuate the cycling with moments of supporting my neck.

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