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Dear Barbara and Ida: Thank you for speaking so openly about this important subject (sex). I am again delighted to learn about a subject which is hardly ever spoken of. We seldom or never discuss the subject in our support group I take my wife to. Thank you for sharing. Henry Guttentag CG for Wife/62/8 Barbara Mallut wrote: > > Ida... I suspect that much of how Parkies in general respond sexually also has > t do with the individual's feelings of still being a lovable person now that > they have a chronic degenerative disease. > > After managing the Chronic Disease & Disorders Forum on a major Network for > over a year now, I've come to see how insecure SOOO many chronically ill > people are when it comes to their self-worth. This seems to cross the > boundries of all chronic diseases, and isn't at all limited to PD. And let's > face it... when there's an impaired view of one's own self-worth, generally > there's depression, too. Who in the world would feel sexual OR sexy if they > believe themself to be less lovable or unlovable, and/or are depressed much of > the time? > > Uhhhhh... this is NOT an ideal setting for anyone's sexuality to blossom and > grow... Unfortunately. > > Barb Mallut > [log in to unmask] > > ---------- > From: PARKINSN: Parkinson's Disease - Information Exchange Network on behalf > of Ida Kamphuis > Sent: Friday, November 29, 1996 3:05 PM > To: Multiple recipients of list PARKINSN > Subject: sex! > > To all readers, > > Now an answer to the sex question is coming, oldfashioned or post-modern. I > have some knowledge of this matter from experience and from conversation > with co-PWP's. Some years ago I attended a meeting of the Dutch patient > organisation were sex was the topic to be discussed. > At the beginning of the treatment with dopamine quite wild stories were > going on about male patients who after their first pill couldn't leave the > nurses alone. If those reports are true this was possibly caused by the > very high doses given at that time. But a more modest aphrodisiac effect of > L-dopa was reported by man and woman alike. > I myself have this experience. Some people had been surprised by their own > reaction. They experienced a diminished desire before starting with meds. I > think it is important that all users of L_dopa know about the possibility > of this effect. Once I was told a marriage broke down while the husband > couldn't bear the increased demands of his PD wife. > PWP'S differ in this respect also. Not everyone gets this pos. effect. On > the contrary some told that all their sexual feelings had disappeared and > did not come back with L_dopa. This can be a cause of impotence. > Knowing some things about the relation between sex-drive and neurotrans- > mitters it is plausable PD itself diminishes sex-drive. It has something to > do with cholinergic vs. anti-cholinergic stimulation, two things that don't > go together. Sexual functioning needs anti-cholinergic activation and a PWP > without meds has to much cholinergic stimulation. > The disappearance of sexual desire might be in some people a primary PD > symptom. Needless to say impotence can have other causes and can exist > without the absence of desire. If the latter is true, it is definitly > caused by something else. In that case a visit to a doctor should be > advised. > Yet another point. As soon as a PWP is not longer a junior among us but is > raised to the status of having real on and off periods, sexual functioning > is only possible when on. Some adaptation and choosing other times for sex > can be helpfull. Another problem is motor impairment. Those problems can > mostly be solved by open discussion and creative fantasy. > I hope nobody is too shocked by this Dutch treatment of the topic. > > Ida Kamphuis, Holland