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> Now for my question: Can/does anxiety "worsen" PD symptoms? The cause of >the anxiety is my youngest brother is getting married on Valentines Day. My >family likes his fiancee so that is not any problem. I think it's just all the >to-dos of what's turning into a "big" wedding when something small was the >couples original plans. There is a very definite connection between stress and PD. This stress may be 'anxiety', but any stress, 'good' or 'bad', will have some effect on PD. For example, if you were a keen fan of a particular sport, and you were watching them win an important game on TV, this might be called 'good' stress, but would have just the same effect as learning that the Income Tax people had selected you for an audit. <grin> There is a chemical link between the production of stress chemicals - such as adrenalin (epinephrine), noradrenaline (norepinephrine), and serotonin - and dopamine. There is also a link between the effect of an acetylcholine/dopamine imbalance, and the activities of various endocrine glands in the body. (Anyone interested in further reading on the subject can search the PubMedline site for, say, 'Parkinson's Disease' AND 'adrenal'.) I, like others I know, use a tranquilliser (in my case, the tri-cyclic anti-depressant Sinequan) in appropriate doses (I have both 10mg and 25mg capsules) to balance-out the effects on my PD of both stress, and such phenomena as 'end-of-dose dyskinesia'. I would be interested in hearing from others on the list as to their use of anti-depressants and/or tranquillisers with PD. Jim [59/13 Sinemet, Eldepryl] ------------------------------------------ Jim Slattery - [log in to unmask] CW PD Web - [log in to unmask] http://www.bec.net.au/~cwpdg/ ------------------------------------------