Hi,
My name is Jim Griesser. My father, Bob, who is 69 yrs. old, lives in
Cleveland,
Ohio and has had Parkinson's for about 20 years. Although the PD has progressed
over the years he has been able to continue to live at home with my mother.
On October 1st my father took nasty fall, cutting his head and really
banging up
his nose. My mother, an ex-RN, patched him up. Everything seemed fine, but
the next afternoon my father went into respiratory arrest. He is still in the
hospital.
Apparently my father has become VERY sensitive to the Sinemet he's been
taking,
and when he takes it his jaw (and throat muscles to a lesser extent) "lock-up"
and
he's unable to open and breathe through his mouth. (So with a bruised and
swollen
nose he was unable to breathe at all...)
In the hospital they took him off the Sinemet for a few days, but when they
put him back on it he began to have severe, full body "seizures" (for lack of a
better
word). Now, I've seen his reactions to Sinemet before, even episodes where his
entire torso twisted around, but never anything like this. It scared the
nurses. His
blood pressure dropped, pulse soared, and blood "oxygenation" level decreased
during
these episodes.
Interestingly enough Benadryl (yes, that same stuff you can buy in the drug
store) keeps his reaction to Sinemet pretty much under control. Just why this
is
nobody (Doctors included) seems to know. (I understand that years ago, before
L-dopa, Benadryl was used as a medication for PD patients.) The problem is that
the combination of the Sinemet and Benadryl has made him so tired, sleepy and
mentally confused that I'm not sure if he'll ever be able to return home.
Now to my questions...
1. Anyone ever have or hear of someone having this type of reaction to Sinemet?
(By the way he was taking Sinemet 250/25 4 times daily when this occurred).
2. Anyone ever have problems with jaw/throat "locking up" when taking Sinemet?
3. How about Benadryl? Does anyone take that with Sinemet?
4. Anyone have recommendations for a *great* neurologist in the Cleveland area?
5. They've also put my father on Permax. What has the experience of people been
with it?
Wow, this is the longest letter I think I've ever written - sorry.
- Regards, [log in to unmask]
