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Last night I took care of a demented, aggitated Parkinson's patient. He tried to hit me a number of times - thankfully, his aim was terrible (naturally). A psychiatrist I knew had been called in on his case to address his combative behavior. We were discussing the medication options available when the psychiatrist told me that his first preference was Haldol. I quickly reminded him that Haldol was contraindicated in PD - and shouldn't be considered for this patient. Thankfully, this psychiatrist was one of the 'good guys' who quickly realized his error. Another PD patient of mine had been admitted to the hospital this weekend because he had fallen and remained on the floor for six hours before he was found. Apparently, he had been falling quite often over the past two weeks. He had responded well to treatment and was heading for the rehab unit. After assessing him, I asked if he needed anything - he told me that he wanted cough syrup for his cough. I related that his attending physician would have to order it because some cough syrups were contraindicated in PD. His wife responded that he had been taking quite a bit of cough syrup over the past two weeks - just about the time he had started to fall. Last night she returned to our unit just to tell me that she had read the cough medicine instructions which clearly stated that PD sufferers shouldn't take the medication. The moral of the story is - be aware of contraindicated PD drugs, remember that not all doctors are familiar with what they are and *read all over-the-counter medication labels.* ------------- God bless Mary Ann (CG Jamie 64/24) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn