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On 11/17/96 Bonnie Rowley wrote:
>
>I noticed that since my dad has started taking his PD med. (sinnonet),
>he doesn't wear sweaters, jackets, etc as much as he use to.... Is this
>just a coinsidence or is the med. warming him up?
>.

Hi Bonnie:

My husband's thermostat went crazy a couple of years ago. This is a man who
hasn't an ounce of subcutanious insulation on his body, and who used to feel
the cold long before my much better upholstered frame did. Indeed, he always
relished our summers days, when the temperature hovered in the triple
digits. Then, quite suddenly it seemed, he was complaining of being too warm
while I was bundled up and shivering. And he no longer relishes a summer day
with the temperature hovering around 110. This has seemed to coincide with
the time that his PD symptoms became significantly worse.

After reading the messages about PWPs reacting to the cold in quite the
opposite way, I wondered why he was always so warm. His neurologist says
this is not unusual with PD. So, these chilly evenings we will play the
thermostat game. He will be sitting in shirtsleeves, while I try to sneak
the thermostat up a notch. I am glad to hear there are others out there with
the same reactions to PD.

His neuro and I think the reason for this imperviousness to cold may be due
to a change in metabolism that is in response to the almost constant
movement of his muscles that burn a lot of calories. Even when he appears to
be at rest, there is a continual rippling of leg muscles. And, there is the
dyskinesia that made its appearance about the same time as the thermostat
problem. It is fortunate that he has a good appetite, and does not have a
problem with any of the heart attack risk factors. In order to keep his
weight at his normal skeletal 126 pounds, he eats gobs of butter, cream, ice
cream with chocolate sauce, etc. every day. (Rats, say I, not sharing in all
this.) If it were not for all this fat in his diet, he would soon
disintigrate into a pile of bones.

Martha Rohrer (CG for Neal, 76/11)

>From the Great Central Valley of California!