Dystonia: eating well and being active can improve our health and keep depression away!

When coping with a funny voice and feeling like an avocado seed is stuck down our throat, coping with the gripping spasms of muscles in neck, shoulders, back, arms, torso, legs or eyelids, being twisted or bent over into positions affecting breathing, vision and speech, we feel as though it is enough to lead any sane soul along the road to poor general health, depression and social isolation.

Whether you are living with spasmodic dysphonia, cervical dystonia, blepharospasm, writer’s cramp, early onset dystonia, myoclonus dystonia, or any of the other forms of dystonia, a well balanced and appropriate diet together with an exercise regime will be of benefit in many ways. When our bodies are spasming and twisting every which way, thinking about diet and exercise can sometimes be too much trouble to be bothered with. Then, hey presto, along comes the Queensland Government with a bold initiative to whip all us Queenslanders into shape!

Although the Queensland State Government’s initiative with the ‘Make the most of it’ campaign does not specifically take into consideration the effects of dystonia nor depression, it does focus on dietary and exercise factors as prevention strategies for medical conditions currently draining our States and Commonwealth Government's health systems. These chronic medical conditions are identified by the Queensland State Government as type II diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, kidney disease and certain cancers. There is growing evidence these illnesses result from poor nutrition, the lack of physical activity and increasing levels of obesity.

We don’t want any of those little nasties now, do we? By improving our dietary and exercise habits we can avoid the debilitating effects of the above mentioned chronic illnesses. We will have all the more energy and thinking power to lobby for research funding for dystonia! Yea!

How wonderful it would be to see our Governments adequately support research into the cause of dystonia. Once the cause of this chronic, presently incurable neurological disease is found, the focus of treatment strategies will swing from relieving the symptoms to curing those affected.

Please, do consider taking time to follow up the link to ‘Make the most of it’ above. Enjoy the easy to follow suggestions for becoming fit and healthy. By thinking about our mental health at the same time as changing our eating and exercise habits, we can make a positive step towards coping with all those aches and pains we have become accustomed to living with.

As the ‘Make the most of it’ message says, be smart, eat well and be active!

Sue Bayliss. Cairns, Australia.