Dear Fellow PDIEN subscribers: Might any of you be able to suggest solutions for this following problem? It would be appreciated. This problem, which is afflicting my mother (who has PD), relates to a serious problem with the digestive tract not quite working properly. My mother (late 80s) has had PD for perhaps 25 years, but it's been under decent control most of this time via medication; in the last few years, she's been taking Sinemet, Sinemet CR, and Bromocriptine (mornings, lunchtime, and dinnertime). A few months ago, she began experiencing the sudden onset, during the nights, of difficult tremors in her legs, the tremors usually lasting about 30-40 minutes. So we went to see her then-neurologist, who prescribed -- in addition to her regular daily PD medications -- a bed-time dose of 2 bromocriptine tablets. (When I asked him, during that visit, if there might be any side-effects or adverse reactions that we should watch out for, he said no, there would be no problems, nothing to watch for, don't worry. If only I had known then what I have learned since!). So my mother started with the bed-tiem bromocriptine doses that very night. Over the next few days, she felt increasing constipated, her abdomen went from uncomfortable to painful and it began to swell. We then went to her internist, who examined her and had me bring her on an emergency basis to the ER of a major hospital in our area (Queens, NYC). The ER found (via x-rays etcetera) that about 1/3 of her colon was packed with matter, that her abdomen was seriously distended, that she was seriously obstructed, and they immediately admitted her. Many of the doctors & nurses there (and during the rest of her 2-MONTHS stay at the hospital, where they never quite cleared up the digestive tract problem but where she got 2 heart attacks and pneumonia, all of which nearly killed her several times) told us that PD medications -- especially Bromocriptine -- are "notorious" for slowing or paralyzing the digestive tract. Fortunately, despite the terrible battle that my mother had to go through ("thanks", in my opinion, to her then-neurologist's incorrect, misleading advice), my mother pulled through all this and is now in an excellent rehab facility and working on getting her strength and proper weight and mobility (all of which were also very seriously diminished during her hospital stay) back. For long stretches of her hospital-stay, my mother received (initially) no nutrition at all (i.e., not even parenteral feeding), or (soon, for weeks) nutrition first parenterally and soon via a nasogastric feeding-tube; and (finally, during her last week in the hospital) thickened liquids to drink, and then (during her last day or two there) some thickened liquids plus very soft real food by mouth. Though her weight, over this long stretch, dropped dangerously, at least toward the latter part of her stay there her abdominal swelling gradually decreased to almost normal, and we were all encouraged that maybe the problem was gradually clearing up on its own. However, since she entered the rehab facility, where they've been giving her a menu of real food (real breakfasts, lunches, dinners), her abdomen has begun, in recent days, to become distended again, and although they've been administering laxatives, it seems that she may again be having some serious partial constipation (now several days long, as of yesterday). I'm worried about this problem: It could be dangerous, as it was a couple of months ago, if her digestive tract again has trouble doing what it's supposed to do. At the hospital, and also here at the rehab facility, they've been giving her *Propulsid* (which seemed to help when she was in the hospital); and the rehab facility has also lately been trying *Milk of Magnesia*, a laxative called *Senokot*, and last night administered a different laxative called *Lactulose* (which also had been tried at the hospital and which may have worked back then). I have not yet heard whether or not last night's dose of Lactulose had any result. My mother is also receiving, since perhaps a couple of weeks ago or so, low doses of Sinemet Regular, and NO Bromocriptine. The rehab doctor is still trying to adjust this to suit her needs. (For most of her 2-month hospital-stay, i.e., except for perhaps the last 2 weeks or so and her first 4 days there, she was receiving ZERO PD medications.) *So, to the questions:* (1) Could the Sinemet (even at the presently lower-than-pre-hospital-admission dosage-level) be hindering her intestines from working properly? (2) What solutions might you be able to recommend to the constipation problem or to getting the intestinal tract to function properly again? (3) Do you have any experience or suggestions regarding this condition along with Propulsid, Senokot, Lactulose? Can you suggest other medications that might safely help in this situation? (4) What can be done to help the digestive tract not only function well -- i.e., to do the job that it should as fast as it ought to -- but also to *repair* whatever damage may have been done (if any) to the intestinal tract? (What I'm thinking of here is: (a) its overall condition, (b) the fact that for so long, during her hospital stay, her colon was bloated and perhaps (my guess:) stretched, (c) any long-term effects (if any) of the Bromocriptine (or even Sinemet) on the functionality of the intestinal tract. I'm open to whatever reasonably may help, whether it's from standard "Western medicine", or "alternative" medicine, and so on. Thanks to any who can offer some insights. -- SJS [log in to unmask] 7/6/96