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Les, Hi, I am a 52 year old female with PD for 25 years.? I have everything?EXCEPT tremor.? I have included a copy of an email that I sent another PD member explainig my history.? I thought it would be easier than typing it all again.? The update on what you will read below is as follows:? I have currently cut my Sinemet intake by 50%, my dyskinesia is gone and the dystonia in my right hand is 75% gone.? I played golf yesterday.? Before surgery I could only play every other hole and not without taking Sinemet throughout the?course.Yesterday I played 9 holes consecutively with no Sinemet.? Surgery did NOT impair my speech. ? In 1993 I had a left brain pallidotomy for the right side of my body.? A very small lesion was burned in the globus pallidum.? At that time, I had no significant PD symptoms on the left side of my body. Before the pallidotomy I was severely impaired with bradykinesia, freezing, micrographia (Interesting because I am left-handed.), balance, decreased arm swing and dragging my right foot.? THe medication was causing constant dyskinesia, which was worse than the PD symptoms, at least they were more noticeable as well as painful. I became anorexic because the dyskinesia?? prevented me from eating and when I did, I quickly burned off the calories.? The pallidotomy was a dramatic success! For about 7 years, it improved my symptoms, I could decrease my Sinemet and had virtually no problem with dykinesia.? I functioned almost normally.? The one negative thing caused by the? pallidotomy was that it caused an "on" dystonia in my right hand.? It was only present when I took my meds. ? By 2000, many stressors and many years later, the pallidotomy was no longer giving me the benefit that I desired to function"normally".The medication induced dystonia in my right hand was worse, as were all??of my previous symptoms.? Still, I did not feel that the left side of my body was affected as badly as the right side.? The doctors and I elected to try DBS on the same side that the pallidotomy was? performed on - the left brain, right body. So, in Sept. 2000, I was? mapped again and had DBS implanted - Medronics device.? Two months later, the wires connecting my IPG broke. So I went back to have the hardware replaced.? AT that time Dr. Vitek was not happy with his targeting and felt that better placement could be found through further mapping. Remember that these were the early days of DBS. I received minor benefits but nothing earthshattering.? My husband noticed more improvement than I did.? Because of the placement of the leads, we were never able to adjust my volta! ge any higher than 1.1.? To do so would cause uncontrollable crying and irratic motor response. Dr. Vitek wanted to remap and move the leads.? I was not interested at that time.? I decided to leave well enough alone and wait for a time when I felt that I could maximize my benefits through more advanced techniques. ? Now we are up to 2007 - PD symptoms were equally bad on left and right. sides? Medication induced dyskinesia, dystonia, you name it I had it. I felt it was time for intervention again -??? I? had??? become a grandma - I was taking sinemet every 2 hours round the clock.? So, I went back to Dr. Vitek because he had mapped my brain and knew my history better than anyone else.? He also knows how unrealistically I expect my functional level to be in spite of?? PD. ? Dr. VItek, Dr. Andre Machado and my husband and I formed a game plan.? The plan involved multi-parts because I live in South Carolina, 12 hours from Cleveland.June 25th I had the right brain(new side)?mapped and wired for DBS.I did not have the IPG implanted at that time.I did, however, have the lead pulled from the brain and the?wires disconnected from the IPG on? the left side (original side). I returned home for 6 weeks. Aug 1, I returned to Cleveland and had the left brain remapped and the lead dropped in a more desirable?location. I was discharged from the hospital the next day and spent 4 days in Cleveland sightseeing.??Aug 7th?I returned to the hospital for what was supposed to be?outpatient surgery to implant 2 IPGs, 1 on each side of my chest (they replaced the original one).? At that time they attempted to remove the old wires and replace them with new ones. There was a lot of scar tissue, too much to? safely remove without making very large incisions.? They left s! ome of original wires in and added new ones. ? As far as compatibility:? My husband explains it like this - 2000 Jeep parts probably won't fit? 2007 Jeep. The devices used are Medtronics. Aug 8th, I was discharged from hospital and went to see programmer.? She turned on and programmed ?both sides..? I am still at a very low voltage for now - under 2 volts.? The original? side was turned on at a very low voltage because of the swelling.? It can be adjusted later.? I will follow up with a programmer,?Robert?Baumgardner, ?at Emory University in Atlanta for fine tuning.? He will work with Dr. Vitek as needed.? Dr. Vitek is the one that hired him. ? We discussed using the dual contolled IPG but I honestly can't remember why it was decided not to.? My husband said it was due to battery life and the fact that there was no option for bipolar on one and mono polar on the other. ? If you are interested in knowing me better, google me as Terrie Whitling.? There are still a few articles on the web from the 90's. ? John's timeline: June 25th - old side removed , new side installed Aug 1 - Old side installed with new leads for better placement Aug 7- old IPG wires removed 2 new PGs installed and new wires run Terrie Starr ________________________________________________________________________ Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! - http://mail.aol.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn