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the overall story is that levodopa/carbidopa is the best choice medication for Parkinson's. that does not mean that this is prescribing information - take yourr mother to a specialist in Parkinson's. the symptom of tremor in her hands is an indicator that she may have essential tremor - and not PD. a movement disorder specialist will prescribe with consideration of any heart effects. the specialist is the person from whom you and she need to get advice. ask about how to optimize the medication prescribed when you and she are with the doctor. if she is not able to live by herself, get some other arrangement. the doctor should be chosen on the basis that you and she and sister are all comfortable. caring is probably necessary for her safety. if it is not brought up by the specialist, ask about antidepressant for her. get her care in home or nursing/assisted living site if needed. good luck, ron >Hi, my name is Erika Borean. I joined this e-mail group in order to >get information for my mother. She was diagnosed with PD approx. 3 >years ago. She is now 73. Her systems stared with tremors in her >hands. I took her to a neurologist, who after diagnoses put her on >sinemet. Her gp took her off sinemet after approx. 1 week because >he found that she had heart palpitations. She refused to go back to >see her neurolgist. Her gp put her on novopranol 40 mg 2 x day. >She has been taking this medicine for last 3 years. My mom lives >alone, but my sister (she lives just around the block, I live 1 1/2 >hrs. away) has been looking after my mom's medical needs. Finally, >after 3 years of trying, mom was finally put on anti-depressants. >Sister always said that mom doesn't need them. Mom is VERY NERVOUS >and gets VERY upset over everything. Now mom says she feels and >sleeps better since anti-depressants. Her latest fall was a wake-up >call for both her and my sister. Mom lay on the floor all night, >could not get up to reach the phone. Sister agreed that it was time >mom saw another neurologist. I took mom on Wed. The neurologist >said that the Novopranol mom's been taking for the last 3 years is >not a Parkinsons medication. I am now trying to get her onto some >king of Parkinson med, but we have to see a cardiologist to get his >O.K. first. My sister took mom to see her gp last night. GP said >that mom is too old for parkinsson medication! It seems that my >sister agrees with him. Finally, mom is listening to me. Said she >will go see Cardiologist next week, then neurologist again for her >PD. This new neurologist believes that mom's heart palpitations >were more than likely not caused by sinmet but by my mother herself. >( She was just diagnosed, living on her own, VERY UPSET). > >It is an uphill battle for me to get my sister and mother to listen >to my advice or the event check into it. Since mom has been >diagnosed I have tried to learn as much as possible about PD. >That's why I joined this group. I have already gotten a lot of >information from you guys which we have implemented for my mom. She >is already living more comfortably, but now it is time to get her >onto some PD med. If any of you could give me some advice as to >which med. she should start out with now at this stage (neurolgist >said she is already at moderate stage) I would really appreciate it. > >Thanks for all your help, Erika -- Ron Vetter 1936, '84 PD dz mailto:[log in to unmask] http://www.ridgecrest.ca.us/~rfvetter