Too much acetycholine may in some way contribute to Pd symptoms, but based
on our experience, so does too little. Our ND prescribed aricept for Ken
based on his dementia, and it is helping not only the dementia, but the PD
symptoms. All the ND said when I commented that his PD mask was less and his
gait better was, "there are many things we don't understand about this
disease". Since she is our local PD specialist(PDF clinical director here),
she is in a position to know the latest treatments.Ken has been diagnosed
with PD for 16 years and had a miraculously good reaction to sinemet at that
time. He had almost every symptom in the book, and they all disappeared for
about five years after he started the sinemet. Now he has Shy-Drager Syndrome
and dementia along with the regular PD symptoms, so he takes many meds each
day. The addition of Aricept did not produce any negative side effects and
many good ones. Both long and short term memory is better, he is reading
again, he is speaking so we can understand him again, and best of all, he has
facial expressions again. Aricept has had no effect on the SDS symptoms such
as postural hypotension and incontinence. Oh yes, he is handling his fork
better, and he loves to eat.
Barbara
Smith, CG/Ken/69/16
