Stephen Powell

[will johnston <johnston@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 08:38 AM 9/13/96 -0400, you wrote:
>SUBSCRIBE parkinsn Stephen Howell
>
>This is a message I posted to the drugs side effects BBS of the health forum
>on MSN.
>
>I am relieved, I was hoping that someone out there knew what I was talking
>about, having chronic side effects without anyone knowing what they are
>exactly is quite frightening. I have tried other various drugs but all major
>tranquillizers can cause parkinsonism to some degree, e.g. I have been
>prescribed Chlorpromazine, Trifluroperazine, Thioridazine, Pimozide and god
>knows how many others ( I can only remember their names because of the
>dreadful reactions I had to them). The problem is that I originally developed
>a psychotic illness along with depression and in order to control those
>symptoms I had to be put on some form of major tranquillizer, flupenthixol was
>the only one they could find which did not produce chronically debilitating
>side effects as the others (even though they are still pretty bad). I guess
>you could say that im in a catch 22 situation. I did read something about the
>drug blocking dopamine receptors in the brain ( or something like that) this
>can increase muscle tension to a high degree and can also cause a tremor (in
>severe cases), the others I went on caused a neck spasm similar to dystonia,
>not nice :-(
>
>PS. The psychosis was (according to my Psychiatrist) caused by drug abuse. I
>experimented with the street drugs Cannabis and LSD about two years ago
>ironically to celebrate the end of my GCSE exams (as we call them in the UK).
>I was only 16 and didn't know what I was messing with. The psychotic symptoms
>seem to have dissappeared but im wondering if the cause of my unpleasant
>bodily sensations maybe a long term result of the abuse of these drugs and not
>side effects of my medication. I didn't know what was in the stuff I took and
>wonder if there could have been a harmful substance in the drugs which made
>things worse. I did only take LSD once but have been told that it can have
>long term effects after one dose :-(.
>
> All of the above was posted and I was advised to contact the parkinsns list
>serve group.
>
> Regs
>
>Stephen
>
Dear Spephen,

You are far too young for  such problems, but, alas, you have them anyway.

#1 The problem may well be TARDIVE DYSKINESIA which is a result of use
and/or overuse of the prescrition drugs you mentioned.  The resulting
Parkinsonism is largely reverseable and goes away after the offending drugs
are discontinued.

#2 There is a chance you could have taken in your LSD days a designer drug
gone bad. The heroin-like / haldol-like drug which is MPTP  causes
Parkinsonism which is NOT reverseable. There is much research on non-human
primates using this drug. The prime research on MPTP is being done at the
PARKINSON'S INSTITUTE is Sunnyvale California USAwhich has a good web page.
WILL JOHNSTON   4049 OAKLAND SCHOOL ROAD
                SALISBURY, MD 21804-2716
                410-543-0110
Pres A.P.D.A.  DelMarVa Chapter
63  Dx1991 Symptoms 1971