How To Keep My House Clean With Parkinson's Disease

Getting Organized, Cleaning Upward and Going Green

cleaning

Sherri Journeying Through

I was in the process of reorganizing my life. You might ask why I'd want to do that. I should just live for the here. Live for the now. After all, I do have PD, and by the time I actually exercise get organized, I may take wasted precious time that could have been spent doing something more than creative — similar eating chocolate or jumping in puddles with my grandson.

For me, though, I'chiliad finding that the more organized I become, the better quality of life I am experiencing.

In my organizing endeavors, I have tried to make a resolution to become green in my cleaning as much every bit possible.

I was raised on bleach, Ajax and ammonia for cleaning around the firm. Each year I have gotten a tad bit more ambitious with my cleaning solutions, believing they will ward of infectious and unsafe diseases, illnesses and cooties. Their potency, as the fumes suck upward the remainder of my encephalon cells, seems to get stronger as well.

The other day, I was washing the shower. I had my trusty supplies: A sponge, my precious bottle of bleach, Pino Sol and an almost-empty canteen of Ajax. I was armed and ready. Now, my neurologist has repeatedly bodacious me, upon multiple inquiries, that I did not get Parkinson's from cleaning the bathroom in this way. I don't call back he knows but what I actually use.

So, I sprayed the shower walls with a bleach-and-water mixture and then began scrubbing them. Every crevice, every fissure, every corner. Clean, clean, clean. My optics began to water. And then they began to sting. And so they burned and I was practically crying as they were weeping profusely.

Then it hit me.

I can't smell this stuff.

If you have Parkinson's disease, you know commencement paw or are enlightened that your sense of smell can exist affected. Well, here I was cleaning the shower with some majorly high-powered cleaning solutions and practically dying and non knowing information technology.

Needless to say, information technology really terrified me. In a adept way.

That night, I Googled "bleach versus vinegar." And you lot know what (possibly you do, simply I drag my anxiety when it comes to new things in the cleaning section)? Bleach is highly overrated and vinegar is highly nether-rated. There is, naturally, a debate about which is the better cleaner, but this is what I learned.

Later reading up on vinegar, I decided to try a pop solution for cleaning showers that has been circulating as nothing less than a magnificent, miraculous substitute. You apply one loving cup of humid vinegar and add i loving cup of blue Dawn dish washing liquid, mixed in a spray bottle. Spray it on the surface to be cleaned (tiled surfaces, shower doors, etc.). This is where the directions differ. Some say leave it for a half hour and so rinse. Some say to rinse correct away. I ran a sponge over the interior of the shower after covering the walls and then rinsed right away. My shower has never been so squeaky clean and I could breathe through the unabridged process without sticking my nose up to the window screen and gasping for air every 30 seconds and watching brain cells float away as I exhaled.

What's this got to practice with PD? As a person with Parkinson's disease, y'all need all the brain power you lot've got. Switch to green cleaning. Too, it's then much easier on the trunk and for those who accept mobility issues, it's pure genius to be able to use just a spray canteen and rinse.

***

Note: Parkinson's News Today is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical communication, diagnosis or handling. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional person medical communication, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified health provider with whatever questions yous may have regarding a medical condition. Never condone professional medical advice or delay in seeking it considering of something y'all have read on this website. The opinions expressed in this column are not those of Parkinson's News Today or its parent company, BioNews Services, and are intended to spark discussion about problems pertaining to Parkinson's Disease.

Nearly the Writer

Sherri Woodbridge Sherri was diagnosed with immature-onset Parkinson'due south affliction over 15 years ago. She can be found working in her garden, going for walks, taking pictures, or reading books to her three favorite grandkids. Sherri is taking life somewhat slower, and perhaps with guarded steps, only she'southward not giving in.