We've been interested in this thread of responses to Alan Bonander's post.
Memory, and cognitive "slippage" has been a major concern of Peter's--in
fact memory problems were probably an early, unrecognized PD symptom. He
also experiences the extreme fatique someone mentioned, the need for naps, and
falling asleep when I am reading to him. One thing no one has mentioned is
difficulty following the plots of movies--and we note in a pub from NPF
("The Parkinson Handbook") the following statement--"Some PD patients have
trouble following conversations. They cannot take in as many messages at one
time, or marshall their responses fast enough to continue with the conver-
sation's flow. Slowness in perceiving and responding is one of the major
symptoms of PD. It is especially difficult for those whose...responses before t
he illness were fast. Unless they understand that the illness itself producres
a slowing up of all activity, they become angry with themselves." This seems
pertinent re:concentration, distractibility, confusion and memory loss, and
helps explain the stress caused by frustration at one's inability to function
"normally". We find that when there is a task to be focused on, the fatique
lessens--mornings are slowest, and later in the day Peter has more energy.
He hasn't really tied this to dosage times.
. He takes SinemetCR 4x a day, has very little tremor,no dyskin-
esia,but rigidity and slowness,head to toe :-)
