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Friday 3 March 2017

Home is where the fart is (Hemingway)

Do you, as a PWP, suddenly discover, post diagnosis, that your bowels are joining the ongoing war to make your life miserable. Constipation and Flatulence are two major point men in the war with parkinson's.

You are what you eat and I like to eat whatever is placed before me.

Wrong strategy my friend. Sometimes my rear end sounds like an intermittent fog horn, while other times it is so blocked up, I swear the air turns blue with my groans of dissatisfaction .

You too, right? And you want to know how to stop this misery. Me too. So I looked it up and here are my findings*.

These are good for PWP:

  • Diet rich in antioxidants which apparently helps to reduce the negative effect of free radicals in the brain, including dopamine producing cells
  • Foods that reduce constipation include vegtables, high fibre foods, fruit
  • Vitamin E foods like olive oil, some nuts, asparagus, mangoes
  • Foods rich in vitamin C such as citrus fruits, coconuts, figs, spinach and melons

These should be avoided as they tend to produce flatulence:

  • legumes such as peas and beans
  • cabbage, Brussels sprouts, etc
  • carbonated drinks
  • coffee or tea
  • too much protein which inhibit the effectiveness of L-dopa (note that some portions of protein may benefit PD, but that is a discussion with your neurologist)

That's a short summary. You should take notice and plan a diet; and I will do so also..... when it has been reliably ascertained that hell has frozen over. I like my cokes and Brussels sprouts, etc and I can put up with a little constipation and I simply try to avoid people when flatulence is in play. I mean, What's it matter to me anyway? PD has robbed me of my sense of smell and I am learning to control the volume of the flatus (Low E).

In the words of Hemingway:

“Home is where the heart is, home is where the fart is.
Come let us fart in the home.
There is no art in a fart.
Still a fart may not be artless.
Let us fart and artless fart in the home.”
― Ernest Hemingway

*information on food gleaned from "Botanical Online"

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