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The recent series of letters about breathing and P.D. prompts me to repeat a
message I sent some time ago. There were no reactions at that time.

My wife, Doris (73,4) has been taking oxygen because of a worsening
congenital pulmonary arteriovenous malformation. This defect has been
getting worse and next week she will have an intervention to seal it off.
The consequence of her taking oxygen has been remarkable for her Parkinson
symptoms. Her insomnia, which has plagued her terribly, has been sharply
reduced. Her restless legs have almost disappeared. She has been maintaining
her sinemet regimen and ativan. As part of her insomnia problem she had a
sleep test and the neurologist reported that her restless legs subsided when
he increased her oxygen input.

Has anyone been taking oxygen for other conditions and found that it
affected their parkinson symptoms.

Her pulmonary shunt has meant that a considerable percentage of her blood
had not been oxygenated. My suspicion is that this increase in "toxicity" in
her blood would be comparable to the many cases of environmental toxicity
that others have reported. However her cardiologist and neurologist think
that her pulmonary vascular problems are totall unrelated to her parkisons.
I am not convinced.
Jules