At 10:42 AM 2/10/98 -0800, Rick wrote:
>parkinsonism--right hand resting tremor and rigidity/slowness of movement,
>weird feeling of having to consciously move my legs to maintain a normal
>gait, poor balance (no falls), problems with complex mental stuff, like
>project planning at work, intermittent depression (although on 40mg Paxil).
>Yesterday the neuro started me on Sinemet 50/200 to see what the response
>would be; I my first dose this morning, but so far nothing noticeable.
Rick, have you had an MRI or gone to a movement specialist? Parkinson's
Disease is diagnosed correctly only about 76% of the time. An MRI will
eliminate both brain tumors and normal pressure hydrocephalus as a cause of
your parkinsonism.
>Parkinson's disease, he says, progresses rapidly and becomes bilateral
quickly.
I am quite sure the above statement is incorrect. PD can take 10 years or
more to develop to the point that it is obvious that you have PD.
>parkinsonism can have a number of causes and is mimicked by other
>neurodegenerative diseases.
That is correct. If you are interested, I can e-mail you the list of
mimics and how the conditions differ from PD.
>And concerned about whether the meds will help.
If you take medication, they will help some, but not all a your symptoms.
Some people with PD never show outward signs once they are on PD meds.
A final note: as you communicate with people on this list, you will find
that most will manage their condition. Doctors are sometimes wrong.
Doctors go home at night; patients live with their conditions. Take what
the doctors say as input, not ABSOLUTE TRUTH. Their input is to be used
with other input from your own research, your experiences, and the
experience of other list members. But you make the decisions. And be
skeptical.
Note: it can take more than a week for the effect of some of the PD drugs
to become apparent. Also, just because you respond to drugs like Sinemet,
the gold standard for PD drugs, it does NOT mean you have PD. There are
other conditions other than PD that
respond to Sinemet. It is just another data point.
Peace, John
