Reddit reviews Soft-Wired: How the New Science of Brain Plasticity Can Change Your Life

> I forget words, and am having difficulty expressing ideas fully.

I'm currently dealing with my father who has PD and is much older than you. From dealing with him and trying to help, I can say that this kind of thing is quite typical of PD. It's just a consequence of the disease; of not having a sufficient level of neurotransmitters. It does seem that some decline is inevitable just due to having the disease, and without the neurotransmitters the brain won't be working quite the same, but in some way it seems that the cognitive decline is something that can be protected against or prevented.

My father in particular seems to have been somewhat defeated by the disease, having become less and less willing to do things, both physical and mental, over the years due to their increasing difficulty. This has, unfortunately, only lead to making these takes even more difficult for him as he is not accustomed to them. Even stuff I would consider to be trivial, such as working on a crossword, or adequately preparing or cooking dinner, throwing a frisbee, or gauge what's appropriate in a social context. Part of it is definitely due to the disease, but part of it is because he gave up doing those things and when he tries them again he doesn't know.

> ....maybe its a use it or lose it thing?

This is kind of what I'm getting at - while PD may make it difficult for some things, as long as your medication and care is sufficient you should be able to appropriate tackle challenging tasks and keep that edge. What really got me into this line of thinking was actually from this AMA by neuroscientist Dr. Michael Merzenich. He talks about neuroplasticity and the changing of the brain and the gist of it is that he claims that we can prevent cognitive decline and even turn it into cognitive growth, even in cases of "adult-acquired maladies" (as he puts it). I bought his book, Soft-Wired not long ago. I have yet to read it, as I've given it to my father in order to help convince him that there is a good reason for him to keep being active and he is currently reading and digesting it.

Don't lose hope. You might lose some of that edge due to the disease but there is plenty you can do to keep you sharp. Others can do better than my father and I hope that some of this might help, or at least point in the right direction.