In June, I will be travelling to Kyoto, Japan for the fifth World Parkinson Congress (WPC). WPC is a global Parkinson’s event that opens its doors to all members of the Parkinson’s community, from neurologists and researchers to those living with the disease. Since my diagnosis in August 2017, I’ve launched the podcast When Life Gives You Parkinson’s. As an extension of that podcast, I have teamed up with the World Parkinson Coalition to help preview WPC 2019.
In this episode of When Life Gives You Parkinson’s, I speak with Gila Bronner, founder and former director of the Sex Therapy Service at Sheba Medical Center in Israel. She is also a sex therapist at the Movement Disorders Institute of the medical centre. She tells me neurologists, nurses and other health professionals, in general, are not taught about sexual issues patients may have, where to refer them when issues arise, or how to talk to patients about it.
Every time I go to the neurologist, I fill out a form asking about different symptoms. Buried in the batch of queries is a question that looks something like this.
As it relates to sexual desire, in the past six months…
- My sexual desire is…greater than it used to be
- My sexual desire is…the same as it used to be
- My sexual desire is… less than it use to be
- I have lost all sexual desire.
It doesn’t really matter how I answer it, the neurologist never seems to bring it up and neither do I. But with sex so prevalent in our everyday lives — on the internet, in the movies and on TV — it’s time for us to sit down and have a Parkinson’s-related sex talk.
Bronner has proven there is an association between Parkinson’s and sexuality. In her research, Bronner discovered nearly three of every four people she studied with Parkinson’s had some sort of sexual problem. Aging and challenges from Parkinson’s both contribute to the issues, but people with Parkinson’s were still 30 to 50 per cent more likely to have problems compared to people of the same age who did not have PD. Parkinson’s affects desire, arousal and the ability to orgasm. Bronner finds the issues are often significant enough that couples stop being intimate altogether.
WATCH: The challenges of living with Parkinson’s
In Kyoto and in this episode of the podcast, she outlines the various sexual problems associated with Parkinson’s disease, various treatments, communication issues, and how to keep intimacy with your partner.
Each episode of the WPC2019 Podcast, I’m going to check in with James Heron, the executive director of the Japanese-Canadian Cultural Centre, to teach us a new word or phrase and help us better understand the culture so we can avoid embarrassing ourselves or offending our hosts.
This episode, Heron explains how to introduce yourself.
Follow me, Larry Gifford:
Twitter: @ParkinsonsPod
Facebook: Facebook.com/ParkinsonsPod
Instagram: @parkinsonspod
For more information on the World Parkinson Congress, head to www.WPC2019.org.
Facebook: Facebook.com/WorldPDCongress/
Twitter: @WorldPDCongress
YouTube: WorldPDcongress
Instagram: @worldpdcongress
Thank you to:
The 12 WPC2019 Video Finalists
Dr. Aleksandar Videnovic, a neurologist specializing in movement disorders and sleep medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
James Heron, executive director of the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre
If you have a comment or question about the podcast, you can email us at parkinsonspod@curiouscast.ca.
When Life Gives You Parkinson’s was selected as one of Apple’s best podcasts of 2018.
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