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>To: parkinsons >From: [log in to unmask] (Franca Ferrara & Angel M. Leiva) >Subject: no medication taken > >Hello, > >I've recently found this list and find it a comfort to know that what my family is experiencing is not new at all. However, I have yet to find anyone who does not take some sort of medication for PD. > >My father is 68 and has had PD for at least 8 years. He was literally never sick a day in his life, and I doubt he has ever even taken an asprin. He refuses to take any medication. We tried to force him to take L-Dopa when he was first diagnosed, he claimed it gave him headaches and that was the end of that. Later his neurologist tried to get him on Sinamet, of course my father refused that too. Sometimes, when he must feel really bad, he takes a Sinamet. > >My father is able to walk without an aid, however he needs assistance getting up from a bed or chair. He tries to feed himself, but tires easily. His tremors are short, but the rigidity is severe. Although he suffers from constipation, he has recently suffered diarrhea (not making it to the washroom in time either). At night he urinates at least 10 times. My mother has to help him in and out of bed each time. (But that's another problem.) > >What is worse about all this are his hallucinations and paranoia. He sees mice and cats in his bedroom; people on TV talk to him and he responds. He thinks my mother is having an affair, threatens to divorce her and sell the house. My father is also convinced that my mother is stealing his money and is plotting against him. Needless to say my mother is at her wits end. > >From reading other PD e-mails, it seems that even patients who take medications are in the same situation as my father. I am beginning to believe that maybe my father is right in not taking medication, he might not be any better off. But then again who knows, he never tried. > >Francesca >