James F. Slattery wrote:
>
> I thought this item might interest those who have mentioned smell
> disorders.  See, we weren't dippy, just a few paces in front of the
> researchers.
>
> START ***************************
> 12:35 PM ET 05/12/97
>
> Loss of smell may offer clues about Parkinson's
>
>             LONDON (Reuter) - Most patients with Parkinson's disease
> have trouble smelling, which could offer clues to the cause and
> diagnosis of the disease, British researchers reported Monday.
>             Neurologist Christopher Hawkes and colleagues at Leeds
> General Infirmary said tests comparing 96 Parkinson's patients
> with 96 healthy volunteers showed measurable damage to the
> olfactory, or smelling, system.
>             Smell was impaired in 70 to 90 percent of Parkinson's
> patients, with damage in the olfactory bulb, which links the
> nasal passages and the brain, they found.
>             ``Odors that were most readily misidentified were lemon,
> pizza, wintergreen, rose and clove,'' they wrote in a report in
> the British Medical Association's Journal of Neurology,
> Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.
>             Smell tests or inspection of the olfactory bulb could be
> used to help diagnose Parkinson's and other brain-damaging
> diseases such as Alzheimer's, they suggested.
>             Alzheimer's, the brain-wasting illness that causes
> dementia
> and death, is also known to affect smell.
>             But how can a brain disease do this?
>             ``One possibility is that Parkinson's disease and perhaps
> Alzheimer's disease might be caused by a virus or chemical agent
> that gains entry to the central nervous system via the nose,''
> wrote the researchers.
>             They cited reports that showed the herpes virus could get
> into the brain through the nose.
>             It could also be that the loss of smell is simply a
> progression of the brain damage caused by Parkinson's.
>             Then again there could be a genetic component. Some
> patients
> with Parkinson's have a defect in the P-450 gene, which in
> monkeys is found in large concentrations in the olfactory bulb.
>             U.S. figures show that Parkinson's is the second most
> common
> brain-wasting disease after Alzheimer's, affecting about one
> percent of the population. It is marked by a shortage of the
> neurotransmitter dopamine, a chemical important for carrying
> messages between nerve cells affecting movement.
>             Victims, who cannot be cured, can suffer shaking, loss of
> speech and other symptoms.
>          ^REUTER@
> ********************** END
>
> Jim
>
> ************************************
> James F. Slattery, JP, MACS
> JandA Computing Consultancy
> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
> ************************************

I saved your letter until I could get back to it. I had smell troubles
after I began taking the Eldepryl. I recall how exrtreme it was.
Mettalic and sometimes chemichal..like nichotine. I also could taste
chemicals. Even today..in the center of my tongue is a slight burning
sensation that gives me a bitter taste.The thing that really got me was
when I showered..the water smelled and tasted chemical. Drinking water
was..to say the least..horrible! We have a filter on the refrigerator
and the water dispenser makes the water nice and cold to drink.
Irregardless of the filter and cold..it was like swallowing something
solid instead of liqued!! I had to really suffer it down! I hated
drinking water! At this same time.. I had a terrible burning and odoriss
rash with swelling, under the arms. NO doctor would listen to my plea
for help with this. Then..I was given a batch of referals to see doctors
out in town..eye doctor, urinoligist, neurologist, etc.! One doctor ( a
gynacologist ) began me on hormone therapy..although he knew I did not
approve and..although I was a new patient, he left to go on vacation and
I was stuck taking new medicine and following a chart that even his
nurses were confused on! Then..to worsen matters..my neurologist put me
on immiprimine and I had all kinds of problems;;patches of rashes up my
arms, some formed blister and some,streaks that itched. When I began
having a menthol sensation up the back of my neck,across my shoulders
and down my arms, the neurologist took me off the immipramine and the
rashes annd menthol feeling cleared. I learned in an article from APDA
that Eldepryl and Immipramine should NOT be used together! I do not know
where to turn for a doctor who will take what I say seriously, not be
rude and be informed on Parkinsons symptoms and medicines.

Carol from Nevada
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