Re: Hi / what happened 4 weeks ago?

[Janet Paterson <Janet313@xxxxxxx>]

hi susan

you wrote, in part:
>I am new here. My mother is 66 and was diagnosed with parkinson's
>in '92. She also has rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis. My mother
>was managing ok on Artane and sinemet ( on occasion ) for the last
>couple of years. Then this last month she began to freeze, her feet
>began sticking to the floor, her shaking became worse. Then last week
>she really went downhill.... on the floor, she could not get up and I called
>an ambulance. She is now in the hospital. She can't feed herself ( her
>hands are terrible from the arthritis )... The Doctors are giving her
>2 sinemet a day ( I think ). Is it normal for people to go down that fast
>with Parkinson's? My mother has been frail for a long time but managed
>with my help. ...Is this the end? My mom was only diagnosed 6 years ago.
>PS my mom had seen her neurologist 4 weeks ago and he had been
>impressed at how fast she got up out of a chair ( Why are people alway
>better at the moment they see the neurologist and then they go home
>and they are the same or worse? )

in my view, there is dreadfully something wrong with this picture
it sounds to me like some change must have been made
four weeks ago in your mother's meds or other routines
to cause such a dramatically fast downhill slide
pd doesn't work that way

the initial freezing and tremouring that started four weeks ago
seem to me to be classsic pd symptoms
and indicators of levodopa shortage

the sudden slide sounds like a med inter-action problem to me

and no, this is not the end!
but it sounds to this amateur detective
like it's time for a beginning of better med management

your mom needs to become maybe with your help
her own advocate in learning about pd and pd meds
and how her body responds to them

don't listen to the doom-sayers - they don't know pd!

your mom's neuro would be the best source of clues
toward solving this mystery

please let us know what happens

your and your mom's cyber-sis

janet


janet paterson - 51 now / 41 dx / 37 onset - almonte/ontario/canada

janet313@xxxxxxx