Jack and Jean, I'm not an expert at anything but I just wanted to say as a
part of this group Best Wishes to you both where ever life leads you.
Shirley
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----- Original Message -----
From: Jack and Jean Corzine <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2000 12:29 PM
Subject: Introduction


> Hello,
>   My wife has recently been to a local neurologist who specializes in
muscle
> disease and motion disorders. This is after going to a regular neurologist
> for almost a month for what we had originally thought of as being
> stress-related tremors to her right arm. The original dr. (we'll call him
> Dr. A) prescribed Xanax at 0.25 mg three times a day for two weeks. After
> only 3 doses we called the dr. on call for side effects consisting of
> increased tremors, severe depression and chest pain. We were advised to
take
> her off of the Xanax and to take her to the emergency room for the chest
> pains (the ER found nothing wrong with her heart). After taking her off of
> the Xanax she returned to having just her right arm tremors. We saw Dr. A
> and he set up a EMG for the following Friday to rule out a pinched nerve
or
> any other nerve damage (Jean had already had a MRI of the head and a EEG
> along with 4 blood tests). The EMG showed normal function and Dr. A
> prescribed Zoloft at 50 mg once per day for two weeks. He told us that
there
> were little to be concerned about with side effects and the drug would
take
> up to two weeks to show results.
>
> The very next night (after two doses) we were at a hockey game when Jean
> started complaining about increased tremors in her right arm, muscle
> contractions in her right leg and tremors in her right leg as well. We
left
> the game early to take her back into the ER where the E.R. Dr. called the
> dr. on call for Dr. A's neurology group. Jean was prescribed Skelaxin 800
> mg.  for relaxing the muscles. I took her back to see Dr. A the following
> Monday (two days after the leg problems manifested. Dr. A saw us for about
> 10 minutes (charged us $80 U.S.) and basically told us that we were not
> giving the medicine time to take effect, that he thought it was just
stress
> (even though we had de-stressed our life as much as  is possible) and that
> he had no further answers for us. He did say that he would refer us to the
> Dr. in Peoria for his recommendations (we will call him Dr. B for now). We
> got our records from Dr. A only to find out that the majority of the
history
> that we had told him had been transcribed incorrectly.
>
> We went to Dr. B one week after seeing Dr. A for the last time. Dr. B did
a
> fairly thorough exam of Jean's arm and leg (Dr. A did not even exam Jean's
> leg but felt that it was only "stress"). During the exam by Dr. B, he
noted
> stiffness and slowness in the leg and arm muscles on the right side of the
> body as well as the tremors. He listened to us while we discussed
different
> aspects of this affliction and made the decision that he thought that it
was
> Parkinson's Disease. He has prescribed Symmetrel 100 mg. twice a day. Jean
> has also mentioned a couple of instances of tremors to the head area but
> they have not re-manifested since two instances last week. The symmetrel
has
> reduced the tremors to a more manageable state but she still has some
> difficulty with walking (her right leg still "drags" and is slower to
> maneuver). Dr. B has also mentioned having a PET scan done to see the
> dopamine levels in the brain cells. We are curious as to exactly what the
> PET scan is and whether or not it is actually useful for diagnosis. If
> anyone has some expertise or experience in the PET scan we would
appreciate
> any information on it.
>
> My wife has just given me permission to mention her age so here goes....
she
> is 32 and the mother of three currently (we have two of our own children
and
> one foster son). She is adopted so we do not have much in the way of
family
> history. We do have contact with her birth mother but have had no luck
with
> contact with her natural father. As far as we know there is no history of
PD
> in her family. I'm not real sure what else is relevant but I'm sure you
will
> let me know if I have left anything out. Thanks for listening.
>
>
>
> Jack and Jean Corzine
> www.geocities.com/~fosterparents
> Herp enthusiasts
> Foster Parents
> Proud mom and dad
>