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Hello. I've been lurking this list for awhile, reading your very interesting and helpful comments. I have also been on and off the list several times in the last 5 years. After awhile I get tired of so much mail. However, when I need new ideas this list wins hands down. Tomorrow I am switching to Requip, from Permax (6 - 10 a day) which I have taken along with Sinemet 25/100, two to two and a half a day, Amantadine and Eldepryl two times a day, and recently Remedan one and one half a day. This regime minus remedan has held me for about 12 years. I have always broken up the Sinemet into 5 tiny doses per pill and sometimes the Permax in half. Then I titrate it throughout the day in small doses to try to even out the effect and it has been pretty good. I am 57 years old and have Parkinsons since age 35, diagnosed at age 41. It has progressed very slowly, and I have had a pretty good life. I think my exact diagnosis is: Young onset hereditary primary Dystonial. I don't have tremor. I have lots of inner tension and torquing from dystonia and now I can't walk without crutches, because another problem has intervened, resulting in damage to my proproception, that I have been unable to recover from, despite 2 times a week physical therapy, and many other efforts. The other problem is probably degnerative arthritis which appeared in my right hip in the early 90's, causing great pain and eventually an inability to walk, resulting in total hip replacement surgeries - five of them in four years, and finally a resection arthroplasty this past July 2, 1999. Now I have no hip joint, a shortened leg that surprisingly can bear some weight, if I could get the head thing fixed. I believe in our potential to fix some of the Pd symptoms over time because I have been able to recover lost fine motor functions, a sense of rhythm so I could dance, and clear speech after a period of difficulty with word retrieval and expression. However, these last few years with the dystonia beating my titanium joints into tin cans have been pretty traumatic, and the atrophied hip flexors and abductors on my leg haven't helped either. If there's any hope at all, I really want to walk,. at least with a cane instead of crutches. I am swotching drugs because of this, and because the peak dose dyskenesia (in the form of dystonia) has increased to constant dyskenesia except for good days. My window of normal functioning has almost closed. It may still be a mild case, but its wearing me out, and making it impossible to make further gains with my balancxe and control for walking. I'm afraid this is the long version of my story. I would really appreciate any input you might have, particularly on the subject of Requip - warnings, cautions, etc. However, I'd also like to know if anyone has had experiences similar to mine and what you think. Finally I'd love advice on how to work with problems with proprioception. Thank you so much. Claudia Elliott