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I am Wilma van der Merwe (56) from South Africa and has had Parkinson`s for the past 12 years. I have not written to the forum yet although I am receiving the e-mails from the forum for the last three years. Thank you everybody for very learnsome articles. We saved most of the articles and passed some onto our doctors. I have been quiet for long enough. It hurts too much. That is my legs! I'm dying of the pains I get in my legs and I don't think my husband or anybody can realize how severe the pains are !!! I have noticed when someone rubs my right leg just lightly the pains also stop in my left leg. I had a pallidotomy in 1989 and a D.B.S. in February 2003.The pains started the previous November. I must say that after the D.B.S. I have none of my old symptoms. I was stiff and my balance was affected, but it did not bother me that much. The Parkinson`s actually manifested itself in the form of bradykinesia in my body. The doctor says I am so relaxed that he can't even feel any cog wheeling in my joints! But I have a new set of symptoms. My mouth hangs half open all of the time, I drool like a teething toddler and keep shutting my right eye the whole time (bletharospasma). I'm really a sorry sight! And the last time I ate with knife and fork was the night before the operation when I had supper at daughters place. I never had any problems eating. And my balance is down to zero. I am totally dependent on my wheelchair for every move I make. And I am suddenly too weak to wheel myself around . somebody has to push me or I will go straight to the ground. And my speech is appalling! There is only a blurred babble left. The devil wanted to get on this one. But I'm not a quitter! Before the operation used to experience bad off-times when I would get very slow. (Bradykinesia). My doctor did not want to hear any of my moans and ever since the operation my legs have just being getting weaker and weaker. The pains just get worse and worse so that I have no interest left in life. My legs and my whole body feel so weak that I feel like I'm dying. A new `flood of pain starts every 3 ½ hours. They sometimes get calmer, but they are with me day and night. I can't take much more much longer. The doctor says I must `presume` they are pains that come with the Parkinson`s, but nobody has ever looked at my legs or investigated the problem. Once they checked me for clots. Another time they checked my back. There is no osteoporosis or problems with my spine (done X-rays and Cat-scans). Then they kept me in hospital to test pain relievers on me. Duragesic stickers and Morphine injections did not make an impression. Then in Feb. 2004 I was once again admitted to hospital to be tested for a morphine pump which would have been implanted in my back someplace. The morphine directly injected in the nerves of the spinal cord (epidural) did have effect. I get infection in my bladder very often and this make the use of an epidural very risky. I started to backslide after a new neurologist took a tablet away from me overnight and replaced it with a sleeping tablet. It was withdrawal symptoms which kept awake for six months and my sleeping pattern was disturbed. A year later I learned this from a psychologist. My sleep was disturbed for another six months while my G.P. had me on a cocktail of sleeping tablets. Leaving me rushing from doctor to doctor with nobody being able to help me or wanting to help me. The doctor who prescribed the sleeping tablet did not want to change the prescription when I phoned him after three sleepless nights. Within days I changed from an active person to a totally inactive one. I have a B.Sc. degree n Physical education and exercise was my life! Three years ago I was still an active national veteran's athlete; I tried to swim 100 lengths each day, played basketball each day and went around our block 3 x on my bicycle for my little dog for exercise, (7- 1 /2 km.) I still drove my car. I was the favourite "aunty" in the neighborhood with the young kids! I played ball, Frisbee with them on my lawn every day. I had tremor in my right-hand before the pallidotomy which was a 100% successful. Although the pallidotomy was done on the left side, the tremors which had started on the left side stopped. A man whom I contacted before operation had pains in his whole body. It was so bad he had to attend a pain clinic to learn to live with his pains. His pains were in his whole body and they all disappeared after he had a D.B.S. He was the third person in South Africa to have the operation. I am so depressed and have been so for almost 4 years since the sleeping incident. Haven't you got a doctor there who can help with these pains of mine???? All suggestions, own experiences and possible cures will help in finding something for this pains. I'll try anything. I am at wits end. Wilma van der Merwe [log in to unmask] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn