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Hi,

I am a newcomer to your list.  (Thank you, Barbara P. for the warm
welcome.)

I have a question I would like to ask, but first I'll introduce myself.

My name is Katharine, but everyone calls me Kitty, and I would be
pleased to have you do the same.  I am sixty-nine years old, a fact
which I usually don't tell, but which, in this context, it seems
appropriate to be truthful about.  I live with my wonderful husband,
Bill, in a condominium apartment that is much too small for two
creative, active people, but has such a glorious view of the Gulf of
Mexico, we can't imagine living anywhere else.

Twenty years ago I watched my father, whom I adored, die of Parkinson's
Disease.

In June of 1995 I was hospitalized with a severe triple pneumonia.  The
day after I returned home, I remember reaching over to my bedside table
to get a sip of water, and I was so weak that my hand shook and I could
barely lift the glass.  Well, eventually I got my strength back, and was
doing my usual two to three mile hike down the beach every day, but, you
guessed it, the tremor was here to stay.  Sometimes it would be
marginally better, and sometimes worse, but apparently it was mine to
keep.

Finally, a year and a half later, in December of 1996, I went to a
neurologist who confirmed my worst fear.  It was the dreaded P.D.   My
first thought was suicide.  I couldn't bear the thought of being
incapacitated and dependent.  I was really pretty crazy for a while.  I
couldn't believe that this had happened to me.

But, somehow, with great support and encouragement from Bill, I have
managed to change my tune.  I realize that I am extremely fortunate
because so far I am not really incapacitated at all.  I still have the
tremor and a sort of interior "jitter" in my right leg.  But both of
these I can easily live with, and my neurologist tells me that it is a
very slow moving disease and I might not get substantially, or even any,
worse in the near future.  He put me on Eldepryl, two bright turquoise
capsules per day.

Which brings me, at last, to my question:  Is there anyone out there who
has taken Eldepryl, and only Eldepryl, for two years, or three years, or
even longer, without a substantial worsening of symptoms or the need to
go on to Sinemet?

I would be very grateful to hear from such a person.

Please forgive me for writing so much.  I didn't know how to make it
shorter.  I  feel very privileged to be a member of the list.  I send
you all my greetings and best wishes and look forward eagerly to hearing
from some of you.

Cheers,  Kitty B.