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Cindy Birk Conley wrote: > > I've been doing sporadic research on PD for about the past year, but decided > to get serious about it by searching out the best PD sites and subscribing > to this and the CARE lists. > > My mom, who is now 79, was diagnosed by our family doctor with PD about a > year ago. Looking back, we can see the signs over several years, although > Mom has some arthitis and osteoprosis and hearing loss which masked the > slowness of movement, bad balance, shuffling steps, and blank expression. > We thought her problems with constipation was due to the slowness of > movement and intake of iron from anemia which she has suffered from for > about ten years. > > Anyway, on her 77th birthday Mom had a bad fall in her bedroom and spent > several hours trying to get up on her own before calling me, and since then > her left shoulder and arm have been pretty much useless, although only a rib > was broken in the fall. Two weeks before her 78th birthday over one weekend > (after a couple of other falls) she lost the ability to get out of bed by > herself and since then we have had caregivers with her during the day and me > to sleep with her at night--she has lived in our house for several years. > She spent a few days in the hospital after she first became weak, which is > when I heard the term Parkinsons, and was started on some heart medicine, > stool softeners, arthitis pills, and acid controllers. > > Our family doctor has discouraged me from taking her to a nuerologist and > starting her on any Parkinsons medicines. Mom only shakes when she gets > really tired or upset, but has a lot of rigidity. The doctor feels she will > need the medicine as some of the other symptoms occur--shaking, difficulty > swallowing, further loss of movement--and if she starts now the side effects > will be bad and she will also build a tolerance to the medicines. We've had > the physical therapists from the homecare agency a few times, but they leave > after Mom gets to a plateau. > > Last week Mom had her 79th birthday. Mom's depressed, not getting better > but not really getting much worse. She hardly ever gets dressed, and its > hard to get her to walk between the rooms of our house. We have had some > problems with bedsores where her spine curves high on her back, and had one > scare with shingles, which were quickly treated. Lately she has had some > trouble with her eyes, and reading romance novels has been her chief > pleasure for several years. Mom's not much for doctoring, and we had a > pretty poor experience with an orthopedic doctor (who probably should have > spotted the Parkinsons) who gave her a couple of cortisone shots after she > hurt her shoulder and only saw her as two bad knees and a bad shoulder. > > What should we do?? I want to take her to a neurologist--the nearest large > city to me is Evansville, IN, where I hear there are several good doctors, > including a Dr. Pain--what a name--but I don't want to put her through tests > and medicines that won't do much good. From reading some PD articles > on-line it sounds like Mom is pretty far along on the standard scales of > disability, and has a non-shaking form of the disease, which makes waiting > for tremors to star a moot point. Her system is pretty sensitive--she can't > eat a lot of vegetables and fruit, and I don't know what she can tolerate > since the PD diet is the exact opposite of what she has eaten for years. > > I don't know what I can contribute to this list, but hope to learn a lot > from the rest of you. Thanks for your patience. > > Cindy Birk Conley > [log in to unmask] > >From Southeastern Illinois to your modem!! > >>http://www.midwest.net/scribers/cbconly Cindy, In this day and age of specialization no one should rely on a General Practioner to treat Parkinson's Disease. I think a well trained specialist in Parkinson's will be able to help you mother much more than a GP. I suggest you look in your local phone book for the nearest APDA Information and Referral Center and ask them to refer you to a doctor who is a specialist in Parkinson's. You don't need your GP's permssion. John Wiegard Alexandria, VA CG for Dorothy 74/16