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A number of you have replied to my recent postings and I would like to answer some of the questions and add one or two further pieces of information. First of all(Maxine) I would like to say that I do understand that the purpose of the group is to offer support to each other and provide information on developments and research regarding identifying causes and potential new therapies. I apologise if I have offended any of you in any of my previous postings by venting my frustrations. There is a greater awareness these days because of the work of people like Michael J. Fox but we also can make a contribution by simply providing more data from our personal histories - which can be the nucleus of a greater database - such that possible causes can be identified. I do not believe that the present diagnostic procedures go deep enough in personal histories. It is no longer just affecting older people but younger people more and more year by year. What has changed in the last 40 to 50 years? Work has become more stressful. Environmental changes. Greater prescription of drugs. Greater use of chemicals in the food chain. Greater use of soft and hard drugs. Inadequate control of toxic materials in industry (Roberta, did your father use Mercury in his job?). Inadequate health and safety controls. To name just a few. It is reasonable to say that possible causes are related to one or more of these areas. In my case I know for sure that an antidepressant was the cause. My experience was that the neurologist (and my GP) based his findings on the simple physical and visual analysis. I believe that when I answered some questions I mentioned my clinical depression and medications which were prescribed; and my susceptibility to anxiety and stress, primarily caused through work. None of this was taken into account. This was in 1993. In 2001 I began seeing a homeopath and it was through her and my open conversations that I discovered the antidepressant (Prothiaden) which I had been prescribed from August 1988 through to January 1990 was documented as inducing Parkinson's. I am almost certain that my neurologist knew this but did not say anything. I informed the psychiatrist and I had been under that I had been told I had Parkinson's; she never answered by phone call -- I wonder why! A senior registrar at a neurological rehabilitation unit described the particular antidepressant as being, "a very nasty drug". This has been withdrawn. A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to talk to a physiotherapist who specialised in working with the Parkinson's unit in hospital in the North of England. I described what I was doing regarding medications and complimentary therapies. To keep a long story short just let me say that she said to me, "if you were my husband I would not let you take sinemet". (Roberta) I've been taking pergolide (Permax) as a monotherapy since February 1999. Within two months of starting this the improvements to my life were almost miraculous in that I was able to do virtually everything for myself once more. By the fourth month I was able to drive my car with complete confidence and control and I started taking my dog for long walks -- at least one and half miles -- each day. In the fifth month at a review my neurologist tripled the dosage to 3 mg per day (that's 1 mg three times a day). He did this because "it's the recommended maintenance level". Once again he took no account of my susceptibility to anxiety which affects my mobility. Since January 2000 my mobility has become more difficult and I suffer with swollen legs and ankles. I can still drive with confidence and control unfortunately I cannot take my dog long walks. Eight weeks ago I decided to reduce my intake to 2 mg per day and slowly but surely I am walking a bit more each day. The only other problem I seem to have is sleeping. For the past two years I haven't slept straight seven nights in bed at all! I find going to sleep almost impossible that in the end I'm so exhausted that I crash out in the chair usually in front of the PC. However, just this week I started going to bed and sleeping six hours minimum. Last week I attended my second daughter's wedding, completely mobile and unaided -- nobody would have thought I had Parkinson's. About almost two years ago I started taking sinemet (3 times a day -- 62, 5) because my GP described me as being seriously under medicated. Again I felt he wasn't listening to my problems of anxiety and emotional stress caused by the collapse of my marriage. At one point I cried and he concluded that I was clinically depressed -- when he returned a week later I asked him, "can't a man cry without being depressed "? He didn't even answer! Let me say at this point that I'm sharing my story with you and in no way am I advocating you do anything different to your regime because of what I am saying. The message I'm trying to convey is one of believing in one's self and not simply accepting what we are told and, for the sake of repeating myself, the importance of establishing the database. We owe it to ourselves to find out the likely cause(s) of our individual PD and I feel morally that we have a responsibility to help future generations by forcing change. I thank all of you for the support and encouragement you have shown me since I joined the group two years ago. I just wish we could all be closer together so we could actually meet face-to-face. All my best wishes. Marco. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn