Parkinson's: Tongue Twisters and Exercises

 

A Journey into Parkinson's with Nancy Mellon

Coordinated by Corrine Bayraktaroglu

Goo, Gah, Gung, Gah, Gah

Chew Well, Swallow With Attention.

OK, I know the first line is confusing.  But it was such fun to write! What does it have to do with chewing well and paying attention to swallowing? They are good sounds to exercise your tongue and swallowing muscles.  We've done versions of those in all the PD singing classes I've done and also in the PD exercise classes and boxing classes I do.  One of my favorites is singing “Gooey Butter, Gooey Butter, Gooey Butter, Cake, Cake , Cake!”  We do that one in Bridget's PD choir class. I particularly enjoy the demanding, deliciously,  explosive consonants in CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! 

With all the sounds we do, we are supposed to exaggerate the shapes with our mouths. It looks pretty ridiculous, but the more it is exaggerated, the better it is for us and frankly the more fun it is.

And when Cynthia says “Stick out your tongue and move it up towards your eyebrows and then down toward your chin,” she leans right into the camera and what we see is kind d of terrifying! And then we all follow her lead. Ahhhhhhhh 

We also get tongue twisters to sing, (thank you Bridget, every time we got to “pretty,” I had to smile) – Sing a song, song, song,

Sing a song, song, song,

Sing an itty, bitty, witty, pretty song, song, song.

Or tongue twisters to say like:

She sells seashells down by the seashore.... Or one of my long time favorites: How much wood would a Woodchuck chuck, if a Woodchuck could chuck wood? (Believe it or not there was a scientist who  figured that out.)

Or one of my least favorites, (you try saying it quickly 3 times!):

Betty Botter

Betty Botter had some butter,
"But," she said, "this butter's bitter.
If I bake this bitter butter,
it would make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter--
that would make my batter better."

So she bought a bit of butter,
better than her bitter butter,
and she baked it in her batter,
and the batter was not bitter.
So 'twas better Betty Botter
bought a bit of better butter.

Chewing well and swallowing with attention, sounds easy and is a good mindfulness thing to do. But it is hard to remember to do it. We all seem to mindlessly eat these days-eating while you drive, talking on the phone while you eat, eating at your desk at work, or while scrolling through your e mails (my hand's up) eating in front of the TV or even my favorite, reading while eating.  All are good ways to not pay attention to what or how you are eating.  But a lot of people with Parkinson's can have trouble swallowing and need to be very mindful when eating.

Cynthia told us we need to sit up tall, no leaning back or forwards. Crunched over and eating is not a good combination. And If we feel like we are even a little bit choking, on any food, stand up, that helps straighten out our midriff area to help it go down..

Another tip, if you have trouble taking pills, take your largest pill first. And then the tip we have all heard before but is a good one, you can also put your pills in a little apple sauce.

I'm ending this post with 2 quotes from Edie Anderson in “Every Victory Counts. Your Go-To Resource of Essential Information and Inspiration for Living Well with Parkinson's” (A great manual about Parkinson's from the Davis Phinney Foundation For Parkinson's.)

“You don't focus on fixing Parkinson's.  You focus on how to live with it, so you can enjoy life.”

“That's when it clicked, that living well was up to me. Nobody could fix me, but I could make it better.”

OK, here we go:

Betty Botter had some butter,

"But," she said, "this butter's bitter.
If I bake this bitter butter,
it would make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter--
that would make my batter better."

So she bought a bit of butter,
better than her bitter butter,
and she baked it in her batter,
and the batter was not bitter.
So 'twas better Betty Botter
bought a bit of better butter.

 

Betty Botter had some butter,But," she said,

 "this butter's bitter.

If I bake this bitter butter,]

it would make my batter bitter.

But a bit of better butter--

that would make my batter better."

So she bought a bit of butter,

better than her bitter butter,

and she baked it in her batter,
and the batter was not bitter.
So 'twas better Betty Botter
bought a bit of better butter.

Betty Botter had some butter,

"But," she said, "this butter's bitter.

If I bake this bitter butter,

it would make my batter bitter.

But a bit of better butter--

that would make my batter better."

So she bought a bit of butter,
better than her bitter butter,
and she baked it in her batter,
and the batter was not bitter.
So 'twas better Betty Botter
bought a bit of better butter!

Till next week,

Nancy & the Snark

Footnotes From Corrine

All I could think of when reading your post Nancy is if I'm going to have to stick me tongue out like a giraffe there had better be a buttery cake at the end of it , LOL! 

Joking aside it's amazing what our bodies do that we take for granted.