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My PD husband Alan, was diagnosed with mild to moderate dementia yesterday, by neuropsychology doctors at utsw in dallas, after a day of extensive testing. They recommend a drug called ARICEPT, which is also used for Alzheimer patients. We will follow up soon with an office visit to his neurologist, to see what she says. Alan currently takes rx drugs carbidopa-levodopa(3xd), comtan(3xd), and amantadine(2xd). I recently read here on this listserv I think, that ARICEPT only works for a year or so and then there are no benefits. The doctor said his quality of life may improve or the dementia may slow down. The side effects of this med are softening of the stool, Yippee:>) They had Alan answer several questions about how he feels about life and some of his answers lead towards depression and other answers said life was worth living. On one hand, I hate testing, especially when the results get presented to my dear husband, who has to hear this crap about himself, and then the other hand is respectful of how the doctors are trying to help us, medically. I am looking for a wholistic approach to work on with Alan. Does anyone know how to improve the brain function if dementia is present? We have added an inversion table to our bedroom (thank you Noel Batten), which brings much needed temporary back relief and blood flow to the brain. I grew and harvested a big bag of the velvet bean(thank you Moneesh), which has not been used yet. It's my understanding the dopamine won't be brought thru the brain blood barrier anyway, so no soups or vegetable treats have been made to date. Please help us with any thoughts... Patti Zapf cg18 -----Original Message----- From: Parkinson's Information Exchange Network [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Nic Marais Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 2:18 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Watch Marijuana Help Parkinsons Disease on Video! I don't say that Marijuana does not help, but the video is not very convincing. I get exactly the same reaction when my meds (Sinimet CR) kicks in. Nic 58/16 On 15 March 2010 02:39, rayilynlee <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > this video is 10 minutes 9 seconds and it takes about 6 minutes to see the changes > > Ray > Rayilyn Brown > Past Director AZNPF > Arizona Chapter National Parkinson Foundation > > > > From: Diane Wyshak > Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2010 3:55 PM > To: ray ; Dr. Kong ; don reed > Subject: Watch Marijuana Help Parkinsons Disease on Video! (yet the DEA says it's a schedule one drug?) > > > > http://parkinsonssymptoms.org/parkinsons/watch-marijuana-help-parkinsons-dis ease-on-video-yet-the-dea-says-its-a-schedule-one-drug > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > 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