On Tue 28 Jan, Ida Kamphuis wrote:
> Brian, David and others,
>
> You answered my question about the conflict David saw between the two
> models before I asked him. It is clear that whatever the mechanism is
> behind the end of med's dyskinesia the cure can only be a more regular
> inflow of l.dopa and that's why Brian's model is not invalidated by it.
> But one thing I don't understand. Is it necessary before completing your
> cards to be able to discriminate the state of to few from the state of
> to much med's or does it suffice to put simply all symptoms in a row
> and complete for regular times which symptoms where present and which
> pills where taken and the computer does the rest.
>
> Ida Kamphuis
>
>
Hello Ida, To be honest, Ida, I had a bit of trouble understanding your
question. So if you cannot make sense of my answer, we will be two very
confused people!
To answer the point I think you are asking; If you have read the introduction
to the program on Ron Vetter's Web Site, you will have seen that the sort of
criteria that I used to identify the condition levels were based on general
symotoms- for example:
Condition Description
+2 Strongly overdosed: Severe dyskinesias, You spill all your beer
(and it can't get more serious than that!)
+1 Slightly overdosed; mild dyskinesias - You could live with
this level if you had to, but would really wish for better.
0 The target!! This is what life used to be like BP (Before
Parkinson!)
-1 Slightly underdosed; mild tremor, but you can still move
around, you can get up out of an armchair, but close work
needing fine control is not possible.
-2 No meds - severe tremor, difficulty walking, difficulty getting
out of an armchair. Muscular rigidity, You spill a lot of
beer in this condition as well !!
You will see,Ida, that these points are chosen to match my personal
experience, and would probably not match someone elses experience. For
instance, some poeple never get dyskinesia. It appears that when they are
underdosed, they suffer ridgidity, stiffness, and bradykinesia (Slowness
of movement) , as they progress upward, they reach a point which I think
corresponds to zero, and then as they take more sinemet, they get more
stiff and thie symptoms are much the same at +2 as they were at -2. I
have found it difficult to cope with this type of PD, but I think it can
be done - I am still learning as well, you see.
I don't know if that has made it any clearer, If you have not read the notes
at the web site URL given below, I urge you to do so.
URL is:
http://www.ridgecrest.ca.us/~rfvetter/brianspd.html
If you get no response, split the URL in two:
Go to http://www.ridgecrest.ca.us/ - This gets you into the site.
Then go to ~rfvetter/brianspd.html - This finds my page.
Regards,
--
Brian Collins <[log in to unmask]>
