I'm no longer downplaying this symptom after a near-disaster in the kitchen

Written by Christine Scheer | March 27, 2026

Many years ago, I wrote a food column for our local newspaper. I called it “Cooking with the Seasons” and told people how to grow and cook with food from their gardens.

One year, my husband, John, said, “We should try tapping a few maple trees and making our own maple syrup, and you can write about it!” Our daughters were quite young then, about 6 and 8 years old, so they were very enthusiastic. We bought used buckets and spiles and tapped five of our maple trees.

Do you know the process of making maple syrup? There is a reason why most people aren’t making it in their home kitchens. You need 40 liters of sap to make 1 liter of syrup. Picture this: a big pot boiling on your kitchen stove for days on end (you’d be surprised how much sap five trees yield). Your kitchen is a hot, steamy, and sticky zone. We don’t have wallpaper on our walls, but I’ve heard stories of people’s wallpaper peeling off. Yes, it is that steamy.

Anyway, we started doing this many years ago, and still do it every year. It’s a tradition that yields a lot of sweet joy, so it’s hard to stop. What I’m trying to say is that I have a love-hate relationship with maple syrup season.

Parkinson’s brings complications

As most of my regular readers know, I no longer have a sense of smell due to Parkinson’s disease. Every once in a while, I’ll get a breakthrough scent, but mostly, when I sniff the air, I get nothing.

This year isn’t working out as well as other years for maple syrup. You need warm days but cold nights for the sap to flow, and we’ve had either too-cold days or too-warm nights. The sap we’ve gathered has been prized, but so far, we’ve only made about 12 cups of hard-won syrup.

Medically reviewed by Nancy Hammond, M.D. - Written by Hope Gillette on January 20, 2026

Key takeaways

• Oral medications are often the first treatment for Parkinson’s disease. They work by increasing dopamine levels or mimicking dopamine’s effects, but symptom control may change over time.
• Infusion therapies deliver medication continuously, which can reduce symptom fluctuations and offer more consistent control, especially in later stages of Parkinson’s.
• Choosing a treatment depends on symptoms, disease progression, treatment response, daily routines, and personal preferences. Talking through all options with your healthcare team can help guide the decision.

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive condition that affects how the brain controls movement. It develops when changes in the brain disrupt the nerve cells that help coordinate motion.

As the condition progresses, damage to these nerve cells can lead to symptoms such as tremors, muscle stiffness, slowed movement, and changes in balance or coordination. Symptoms often evolve over time, which can affect how well different treatments work.

Medications play a central role in managing Parkinson’s symptoms. These treatments may be taken by mouth or delivered via infusion. The best option depends on a person’s symptoms, how their body responds to treatment, and how treatment fits into their daily life.

Oral medications for Parkinson’s disease

Oral medications are those you take by mouth. In Parkinson’s disease, many oral medications fall under what’s known as “dopaminergic therapy,” which is often the first treatment approach. These medications work by replacing dopamine or mimicking its effects in the brain.

Parkinson’s disease affects cells that produce dopamine, a chemical that helps coordinate movement. When dopamine levels drop, the brain has a harder time sending clear signals to the muscles. This can lead to symptoms such as stiffness, slowed movement, tremors, or difficulty with coordination.

While dopaminergic therapy is a mainstay of Parkinson’s treatment, not all oral medications work the same way.

Some target other brain chemicals (neurotransmitters) involved in movement or non-motor symptoms, offering additional options when dopamine-based treatments alone aren’t enough.

Written by Kristin DeJohn Farmer | Last updated Feb. 4, 2026

Fact-checked by Patricia Silva, PhD

People with Parkinson’s disease have a much higher risk of falling and injury compared to the general population. Problems with balance, leg weakness, and freezing when walking are major culprits.

Parkinson’s psychosis symptoms — namely, hallucinations and delusions — can further increase the risk of falling. Having a well-designed home environment is part of a Parkinson’s psychosis safety checklist that can help prevent these problems.

Understanding Parkinson’s psychosis and safety risks

Managing safety in Parkinson’s disease often involves a delicate balancing act. Parkinson’s psychosis symptoms can arise from disease-related changes in the brain and may also be triggered or worsened by medications used to control motor symptoms and improve mobility.

Psychosis symptoms can include:

• Illusions or misperceptions: Mild or intermittent visual distortions, such as a shadow appearing as an animal or a coat rack resembling a person
• Hallucinations: Seeing or hearing things that aren’t actually present
• Delusions: Fixed false beliefs that feel real, even when evidence contradicts them

These changes in perception or belief can increase safety risks at home.

Falls and physical injury

Hallucinations and delusions can distort or change the way the surrounding environment appears. For instance, stepping into something that is perceived but not real. This increases the risk of falls and injury. Low light or low-visibility conditions can make hallucinations worse, further increasing the risk.

Confusion and disorientation

Reduced awareness that experiences are not real can lead to confusion or disorientation. This may result in unsafe actions such as wandering or attempting to leave the house.

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Bill is only in his fifties, but was diagnosed recently with Parkinson’s disease at UConn Health’s Brain and Spine Institute. The diagnosis was further supported through a DaTscan (dopamine transporter scan) using a radioactive tracer to confirm the disease’s hallmark – low dopamine in the brain.

A couple of years ago, while rehabbing an injury, his physical therapist randomly asked, “Does your left thumb always twitch?”

“I actually had never noticed that twitch before,” Bill reports. “My tremors in my left hand don’t always happen, they come and go. But now they have gotten worse, and have started to spread to my right hand.”

After experiencing these hand tremors, Bill wasn’t surprised by his recent Parkinson’s disease diagnosis.

“I knew something was wrong,” says Bill, who has no family history of the disease that is the second most common neurodegenerative disease worldwide after Alzheimer’s. Globally, PD afflicts more than 10 million people.

Besides hand tremors, the other three common Parkinson’s symptoms are slowed movements, stiffness/rigidity, and balance changes known as postural instability.

Early Action
Bill is taking early action to stay ahead of his new Parkinson’s diagnosis.

“I keep moving!,” he says.

He is staying active. He is a runner, and exercises a lot. He has started yoga to help him maintain his balance, and is even thinking of trying Tai Chi next.

Also, he chose to enter the national Parkinson’s Foundation PD GENEration registry collecting blood samples from volunteering patients across the country to collect and test their individual genetic predisposition for the disease. About 10-15% of PD cases are associated with an identifiable genetic cause. It also is pooling together more patient data to help advance research and try to find answers for a future cure. The registry already has 30,000 PD patients enrolled.

“We believe that genetic and environmental factors are at the core of the cause of Parkinson’s disease. This registry can help us learn more about the genetic make-up of a family, and also of the disease itself. If you participate, you are helping patients across the country,” says Dr. Bernardo Rodrigues, director of the Parkinson’s disease Clinic at UConn Health.

For Women's History Month, a columnist explores the gaps

Written by Mary Beth Skylis | March 19, 2026

Women’s History Month, celebrated each March, originated in 1978 when an educational task force in Santa Rosa, California, set out to highlight women’s contributions to society. This month also serves as a time for reflection on persistent issues such as the exclusion of women from textbooks and research. Historically, women have been overlooked and marginalized in scientific research, a pattern that regrettably continues in many fields, including Parkinson’s research.

While much of my column focuses on my dad’s experience with Parkinson’s disease, I want to take a moment to highlight some of the unique challenges faced by women living with Parkinson’s disease today.

In exploring the differences men and women encounter while navigating Parkinson’s, I discovered that women with the disease are misdiagnosed more frequently than men. One contributing factor is that Parkinson’s symptoms often manifest differently in women, who are more likely to experience non-motor symptoms. Furthermore, because much of Parkinson’s research has historically focused on men, emerging symptoms in women can be harder to recognize and diagnose.