Blog posts in a grid, most recent post first.
Managing medication in PD – both complex and simple?
Feb 8, 2025 6 Min read
Taking medication for Parkinson’s disease (PD) sounds simple: just follow your prescription, take your pills on time, and you’ll be fine. But the reality is
Understanding Parkinson’s: The curse of knowledge
Nov 20, 2024 2 Min read
I just realised that I have probably been suffering from the “curse of knowledge” when trying to explain Parkinson’s (PD) to people. With this I
Patient self-experimentation makes the headlines!
Nov 11, 2024 6 Min read
What is self-experimentation?
Sanctorio sitting in the balance that he made to calculate his net weight change over time after the intake and excretion of foodstuffs
“Precision Medicine in Parkinson’s Disease – Exploring Patient-Initiated Self-Tracking” as a podcast
Oct 2, 2024 0 Min read
This is a podcast version of my published scientific article “Precision Medicine in Parkinson’s Disease – Exploring Patient-Initiated Self-Tracking” (https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-parkinsons-disease/jpd181314) created by Google Notebook LM.
This is why patient involvement is important for improving healthcare or “It seems inconvenient, but if you really want to, you can try”
Aug 8, 2024 4 Min read
(This blog post is also available in Swedish =>> here)
Most people living with Parkinson’s disease take a lot of pills, multiple times a day. After
“Empowering patient research” – an Aeon essay by Charlotte Blease and Joanne Hunt
Aug 7, 2024 0 Min read
I am happy and proud to be mentioned in this excellent essay on a topic very important to me:
https://aeon.co/essays/we-need-the-first-hand-experience-of-disabled-researchers
Classification of patient knowledge
Aug 3, 2024 5 Min read
I vividly remember the first time I realized that my neurologist and I are in possession of vastly different although complementary types of knowledge. At
Patients’ experiential knowledge and expertise
Aug 1, 2024 6 Min read
I recently came across a very interesting scientific article, published almost 50 years ago, with concepts that are definitely still relevant and important today:
Borkman, T.
“Do you want to drink cappuccinos or do you want to get well?”
Jul 12, 2024 3 Min read
Even though the notion of shared decision-making in healthcare was first mentioned in scientific literature already during the 1970s, the main development in the field
WPC2023: “To track or not to track”
Aug 19, 2023 1 Min read
In July I was in Barcelona to attend the 6th World Parkinson Congress or WPC. As expected, it was a few very intense days with
Jag har fått ett pris! / I have received an award!
Apr 19, 2023 1 Min read
(For English, scroll down)
Idag fick jag ett brev från Parkinsonfonden: Jag har tilldelats Elsa och Inge Anderssons pris 2023 för bästa doktorsavhandling inom parkinsonområdet. Priset
How I became a researcher in personal science
Dec 18, 2022 1 Min read
I was recently asked a question that I hadn’t been asked before:
How to become a researcher in personal science? Can you describe your process from
I can’t take yet another solution looking for a problem…
Aug 17, 2022 3 Min read
I have long since stopped counting the number of tech companies that have contacted me over the years to get me to help with what
My 5 top learnings from tracking my Parkinson for over a decade
Aug 11, 2022 10 Min read
I have more than a decade of experience from tracking my Parkinson’s disease (PD) and I want to share my 5 most important learnings. Hopefully
My PhD thesis defence
May 12, 2022 0 Min read
Video
https://youtu.be/aLw-ZL8_Xd0
PhD thesis
https://www.riggare.se/2022/01/21/my-phd-thesis-is-now-available/
On this day 10 years ago…
Mar 28, 2022 1 Min read
On this day 10 years ago, March 28th 2012, I was registered as a PhD student at Karolinska Institutet. My research plan, which was going
Personal science day 25 March 2022
Feb 11, 2022 1 Min read
PhD thesis defence
I will defend my thesis on Friday 25 March 2022 at 10:30 am CET at the aula of the Radboud University, Nijmegen. Members
My PhD thesis is now available!
Jan 21, 2022 1 Min read
A few weeks into the new year and I am happy to announce that my PhD thesis is now available!
Below you can find links for downloading,
PhD thesis print proof
Dec 21, 2021 0 Min read
PhD thesis print proof!
Checking the print proof of my PhD thesis makes me very happy! Huge thanks to supervisors supreme Bas Bloem, Maria Hägglund, Martijn
Draft version of the “spetspatient” framework
Dec 6, 2020 5 Min read
Authors: Sara Riggare, Therese Scott Duncan, Maria Hägglund.
Introduction
In the Merriam-Webster dictionary, ‘advocacy’ is defined as: “the act or process of supporting a cause or proposal”.
Tracking of COVID-19
Nov 23, 2020 3 Min read
Edit on 16 December 2020: I am now almost back to “normal” (whatever normal is when living with a progressive illness…). Looking forward to relaxing
PhD trajectory update
Jul 14, 2020 1 Min read
I figured that an update on my PhD trajectory was in order so here goes:
My application to defend my PhD thesis, ready to be handed
“But Sara…”
Jul 23, 2019 7 Min read
“But Sara, why would patients want to do research on themselves anyway? Isn’t it better if you all just give your data to a proper
Some key aspects of patient-centered research
Jul 19, 2019 3 Min read
It is a truth universally acknowledged that many patients no longer settle for contributing to medical research only as participants in research studies. Over the
What is a ‘spetspatient’?
Jun 9, 2019 4 Min read
The report “Spetspatienter – en ny resurs för hälsa” (only in Swedish I’m afraid)
My non-Swedish speaking friends may have been wondering
Årets medicinsvensk 2018 / Swede of the year in medicine 2018
Feb 10, 2019 2 Min read
Foto: Per Riggare Jag utsågs av nyhetsmagasinet Fokus i januari 2019 till årets medicinsvensk 2018 med följande motivering:
Att vara patient kan
Walking revolutionised
Jan 15, 2019 5 Min read
My new friend Potemkin meets my furry friend Shiva
Tuesday last week, I got myself a new friend. I have namned him
Ethics and PhD
Sep 16, 2018 10 Min read
Background
A few days ago, I had some disappointing news. I have been working on my PhD in the area of digital selfcare and self-tracking in
A small round white pill
Aug 9, 2017 3 Min read
One of my containers for my morning doses with one morning dose laid out.
Every morning I have my phone alarm set
The finest compliment I ever had
Jun 1, 2017 2 Min read
Today I learnt that Tom Isaacs, President and co-founder of the Cure Parkinson’s Trust died very suddenly and unexpectedly yesterday morning. Tom is (yes, he
What is in a fall?
Aug 29, 2016 2 Min read
Before my Parkinson’s had evolved into the kind with “freezing-of-gait”, or FOG for short, that now is far more familiar than I would like, I
From The White House to the red house
Jun 9, 2016 4 Min read
Last week was a week of contrasts for me. On Tuesday I left Stockholm for New York City and the purpose of my trip was
Neuroscience – theory and practice
Mar 21, 2016 5 Min read
My extra dopamine – on my left arm
I’m sure most of you have seen me write once or twice before that