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Annette, Ken certainly has quite a medical history. I'm wondering if Inderal, a beta blocker, might help his tremor? This is a cardiac drug that has had a significant effect on essential tremor. ------- God bless Mary Ann (CG Jamie 67/27 with PD) www.bentwillowfarm.org > Before starting sinemet, Ken was on amantadine and then Requip (another > dopamine agonist)-- eventually taking a very high dose of requip > (15mg/day). He had a very unsuccessful trial of Mirapex -- it did not > work > at all for his tremors and he had a number of bad side effects. He > eventually had to quit Requip and the other dopamine agonists because: 1) > they had stopped doing much of anything for his tremors; 2) > obsessive/compulsive behaviors were getting to be a real problem; 3) he > had > horrible problems with swollen feet. I am sure Parkinson's factors into > his depression, but he is also bipolar (manic-depressive), which was > pre-existing before the Parkinson's symptoms or diagnosis. As far as the > tremors, his neurologist thinks he would be a good candidate for DBS but > there are problems related to 1) money -- we have poor health coverage and > low income; 2) Ken's history of bipolar disorder and the risk that DBS > would > stimulate mania and/or depression; and 3) the fact that he is very, very > frightened of the idea of DBS. He does also still take Topamax (it is an > anti-epileptic drug) for his essential tremor but it provides little > benefit > anymore. He may try another dopamine agonist as an addition to the > sinemet > sometime in the near future. > > Thanks, however, for your thoughts and suggestions. > > Annette > On 7/30/07, Mary Ann Ryan <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >> >> Annette, Mirapex helped my husband get rid of his tremors. It also had a >> major impact on his depression. It can cause psychosis in high doses - >> but >> has been very helpful in riding him of those terrible tremors. >> ---------- >> God bless >> Mary Ann (CG Jamie 67/27 with PD) >> www.bentwillowfarm.org >> >> > My husband has also experienced significant weight loss and a >> newly-gained >> > capacity to NOT put on weight since the worsening of his Parkinson's >> > symptoms several years ago. He currently takes 5 sinemet 25/100 + 5 >> > sinemet >> > 50/200 daily. He has severe tremors (bilateral -- arms, hands, >> legs/feet >> > + >> > head) and also has essential tremor (has action, intention and resting >> > tremors) and he has lost the most weight at the time when his tremors >> have >> > been the worst -- I think both because of calories burned through the >> > constant shaking and because of the fact that bad tremors make it >> > difficult >> > for him to eat. L-dopa related nausea/loss of appetite doesn't >> help. He >> > also suffers from periodic episodes of severe depression (which are >> > sometimes associated with total loss of appetite and other times >> > associated >> > with an uncontrollable urge to eat tons of ice cream). >> > >> > Annette, wife & caregiver of Ken >> > >> > On 7/16/07, Nick <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >> >> >> >> My wife is a 15 year Parkie. She started losing weight about a year >> ago, >> >> and has gone from 105 to 85. She has a good appetite, eats a balanced >> >> diet. She is still losing weight. She takes amantidine , 2tabs twice a >> >> day, and 2 sinemet 25/100 before bedtime. Has this happened to any >> other >> >> Parkies? Is this directly related to her Parkinson's disease? Please >> >> help. >> >> >> >> Nick >> >> husband & caregiver >> >> >> >> >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto: >> >> [log in to unmask] >> >> In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn >> >> >> > >> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: >> > mailto:[log in to unmask] >> > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto: >> [log in to unmask] >> In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn >> > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: > mailto:[log in to unmask] > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn