Sonic D.

After my Oct. 24, 1994, unilateral pallidotomy on the left side FOR relief on
the right side, I was tired enough to take an afternoon nap each day for a
couple of weeks.  No biggee tho, because heck... I was taking an afternoon nap
almost every day anyway due to the PD.

The big difference now is that "tired" no longer applies to how I feel when I
need to lie down.  The only appropriate term I can use is "profoundly
fatigued."  This fatigue isn't a daily occurance, but a cyclical one lasting
for several days at a time, from about 4 p.m. thru about 7 p.m..   Then
there's 3 or 4 days when I'm 'merely" tired at  that time of day.

When in "fatigue mode," I can fall asleep sitting up and while in the middle
of a conversation.  I can doze while at the wheel of my car.  I find that my
inner body feels very chilled, tho my skin isn't cold to the touch.  My feet
become like ice cubes.  The fastest way I can get over this "fatigue mode" is
to just stop finging it, go to bed, put a hot pad on HI at my feet,  If I do
that, I may not actually sleep, but I can force myself to get up from the warm
cacoon of the bed quilts (and push the two snoozing kitties off my feet)
<grin>, and within 15 or 20 minutes I feel decent once more.

I hate giving in to the fatigue tho so sometimes work thru it by scheduling
some "no brainer" project to do - just to get even with it and let 'em know I
still have some fight left in me yet!

I guess I'm saying that in my case, the postsurgical fatigue has never gotten
any better... tho it also has not gotten any worse.   I've really analyzed how
it afects my own body, the time of day, what I feel like in those moments,
etc., and try to just get on with my life around and in SPITE of the fatigue.
Compared to how miserably I had felt prior to the surgery, the fatigue is
someting that I can live with, because I gained so many beneficial things as a
trade off.

By the way, I've occasionally nodded off while on a date and have been teased,
but kindly.  No one's ever given me a hard time 'cause of this.  And because I
work out of my home and am online all the time - setting my own work hours
most of the time, I have been able to, as I've said, "work around" the
fatigue.  I recognize that not everyone has the same luxury........

As for the "on " and "off" times from the drugs, I simply on longer have that
problem.  I still take Sinement daily:  1/2 of a 25/250 about noon,  1/2 about
6 pm.,  and 1/2 about 9 pm.  I also take a Sinemet CR 25/200 about an hour
after the first dose of the day.   It's that which seem to provide me with
that long ""bridge" of time between the 1st and 2nd dose each day.  The only
other drugs I take regularly are a 1/2 of a 20 mg. Paxil and 800 icu's of
vitamin E, both along with the first Sinemet of the day.   I also wear an
Estragen replacement patch.

Barb Mallut
[log in to unmask]

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From:   PARKINSN: Parkinson's Disease - Information Exchange Network on behalf
of Sonic D
Sent:   Sunday, November 24, 1996 6:34 PM
To:     Multiple recipients of list PARKINSN
Subject:        Pallidotomy issue

A question to those of you who have had a pallidotomy.  Did you have post
operative fatigue? If you did, how long did it last?  Did it increase the
amount of your "on time" or did it make the "off" symptoms less problematic?
I look forward some replys.