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At 10:46 AM 2000/05/16 -0400, cyber-dad don mckinley wrote: >This message will be different in the way I start out. >My being 76 and having had PD for 31 years, you would think I would >know the answer to this one. But live and learn, I guess. >I don't know who to ask. My neuro asks me a lot to help other PWP >short-timers. It bothers me that I can't always give a good answer. >Mom (Vivian) and I have friends of all ages, from teenage to our age. >Well, for my question; we had some people in with some children, so >we sent out for some MacDonald's. I got a small burger and some ice >cream. All I could eat was just half of the burger and the ice cream. >It was supper time, I had not eaten all day; the others could not >understand it. >I get sick in my belly, and break out in a sweat. Nothing tastes good. >I even get bad headaches. Mom says she is just getting tired of >cooking since I won't eat. But I can't. >I am not losing weight or gaining weight. I can drink two pots of >coffee. >I do not feel bad asking the LIST for help but I hate to ask my DOC >for help. Is it all in my mind, or what? >Yesterday I ate 2 big spoons of macaroni and cheese, and a piece of >pie. I am getting sick right now just thinking of eating. >Why is it? Am I the only one? >The LIST is for us to tell the truth even about dumb things. I'll bet >a lot of us have dumb questions but are afraid to ask. I was, and still >am at times. >I feel so tired and weak. We have always been able to work things out >but this eating thing is getting me down. I hope someone can make sense >out of what I am saying. So give me some help. > I.Y.Q. DON AND VIVIAN hi cyber dad some of your words jumped out at me: "All I could eat was... " "Nothing tastes good..." "since I won't eat. But I can't..." "I am getting sick right now just thinking of eating..." this reminds me very much of the time i was taking anti-inflammatories for a tendonitis problem i gradually developed more and more 'loss of appetite' [that's how i would describe it - it wasn't specifically nausea] until i was barely eating anything [and did lose a lot of weight over several months] a mouthful of sandwich at lunchtime would turn into sawdust in my mouth as it turned out, i think i was well on my way to stomach ulcers due to long term [potentially dangerous] use of the anti-inflammatory, combined with the well known nausea problems associated with levodopa and low doses of carbidopa [nicely exacerbated by being taken on a mostly empty stomach all the time] when i finally got the situation turned around by dropping the anti-inflammatory like a hot potato and 'tweaking' the levodopa/carbidopa proportions and my appetite returned to something closer to normal, one day i noticed that my mouth was 'watering' while anticipating dinner and i realized that that had not happened to me for over a year! sometimes we don't know how to explain things to our docs sometimes they don't know how to listen but if you are feeling bad all i can advise is put on your sherlock holmes cap and analyse your own symptoms and describe them as accurately as possible and stick to your guns with stupid questions and stupid demands till the problem gets resolved!!! this is not normal for you, right? do you know when this started? or when you first noticed it? have you been taking any different meds lately, maybe unrelated to pd? is it possible you have ulcers or the beginnings of them? [two pots of coffee on an empty stomach - whoooeee!!!} sometimes i have noticed my own doctors sometimes wearing "pd blinders" meaning they see me as a pd patient, period, which is not quite accurate: i am not restricted to pd only, i am entitled to get sick with anything at all! janet paterson 53 now / 41 dx / 37 onset 613 256 8340 / PO Box 171 Almonte Ontario K0A 1A0 Canada visit my website "a new voice" at: http://www.geocities.com/janet313/