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hi all At 19:10 2001/03/10 -0500, Camilla Flintermann wrote, in part: >Friends-- this letter to Peter's MDS will fill you in on our latest >problems--any suggestions from your experience will be welcome ! >... >>Not only is he weaker and more OFF (except in the early morning on most >>days) but also he has developed a sudden instability---severe shaking >>(not like dyskinesia I've seen, which he never has had) at times almost >>jumping in place, very out of control even when hanging onto his heavy >>duty walker. If he can't quiet the bouncing quickly, he is at risk of >>falling. It gets worse if someone tries to grab and support him. I >>remind him that you told him to use the walker, but his dementia causes >>him to forget. >> >>The only recent changes in meds are taking colace daily (a stool >>softener), and since late January when the compression fracture of a >>vertebra was found, 2 Vioxx tabs daily and Acetaminophen or Ibuprofen at >>times for pain. I have been giving him the 5th Seroquel you suggested, >>but dropped the 6th one as it seemed to cause great weakness and >>shakiness, apparently interfering with his Sinemet. I wonder if the >>present problems are in any way related to Seroquel? The mild >>hallucinations are present frequently, but his mobility is also much >>compromised at times. >> >> While he fell 3 times in Jan., there were NO falls last month. BUT in >>the past 2 days he has fallen 3 times---once when festinating down a hall >>without his walker (which he often forgets to use) , once trying to get >>out of a chair, and tipping it over sidewise, once just going a few feet >>from bed to bathroom, without walker again. I 'm pretty sure that these >>repeated falls--a fairly new stage for him---have severely shaken his >>confidence and depressed him more. He wants to be independent, so hates >>to call me every time he wants to move around. And it is getting harder >>to help him, for even though he has lost weight---down now to about 126 >>lbs. from 145---he is so weak he is nearly a dead weight. >>The sudden bouncing out of control is very scary for him---and of course >>for me too. I anticipate from things he has said that he is on the verge >>of asking to go to a NH, as he fears it is too much for me to handle. He >>now needs pretty constant supervision , though in the morning he may get >>up ahead of me and move well for several hours. that last sentence says a lot to me i think it means he's over medicated through the day and that sudden shaky instability sounds like a drug inter-action or over-action was something changed between december and january to contribute to his sudden three falls after no falls at all? is that when he was last 'stabler' than now? i suspect that the original cause of his new instability is back there, and the meds since his falls are simply exacerbating the problem and quickly, it sounds! please let us know what happens! with love janet janet paterson, an akinetic rigid subtype parkie 53 now / 44 dx cd / 43 onset cd / 41 dx pd / 37 onset pd TEL: 613 256 8340 SMAIL: PO Box 171 Almonte Ontario K0A 1A0 Canada EMAIL: [log in to unmask] URL: http://www.geocities.com/janet313/