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SCOTLAND: Special (Pill) Bottles May Help With Parkinson's Glasgow Evening Times, UK - Saturday, May 15, 2004 A HUSBAND and wife team of Glasgow doctors has launched a unique study into Parkinson's disease, with the help of special pill bottles. Dr Donald Grosset, a consultant neurologist at the Southern General, and his GP wife Catherine, who works there and in Shettleston, want to find out why the symptoms of the disease come and go. They hope their findings could help give patients more control over their lives. Parkinson's affects the brain, causing trembling or shaking, stiffness and difficulty moving. Today, the doctors were speaking at a conference at Gleneagles where they were to reveal the findings of a pilot study in the city, looking at how and when patients take the medicines they need. Dr Grosset said: "Patients with Parkinson's disease initially have a choice of treatments which are very effective and give them smooth control of their symptoms." e said the severity of the symptoms increases and decreases from time to time and drugs help to control this but patients often find these changes return after about five years. The doctors decided to use special pill bottles containing a computer chip which notes the time the bottle is opened and when the patient takes a pill. This helps them see if the patient is forgetting to take their medicine or taking it too often. That could help doctors round the world to work out whether this causes the return of unpredictable symptoms and help them develop new once-a- day treatments. Dr Grosset said: "Forgetfulness is an issue with some people who have Parkinson's. "It does not affect everyone...but it could be a factor in when they take their treatment." The couple have already run a six-month pilot study on 100 patients aged 40 to 80 from the west of Scotland. Dr Grosset said: "One of the aims of treatment is to smooth out the symptoms. Smoothing out the doses of drugs could be one way to help that." Richard O'Grady, manager of the Parkinson's Disease Society Scotland, said: "One of the difficulties with this illness is that people have to remember to take differing numbers of tablets up to six times a day. "Anything that can help them to cope with their condition would be very, very useful." SOURCE: Glasgow Evening Times, UK - Saturday, May 15, 2004 http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/5026491.shtml * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn