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Ken, Your post about Aricept for Jenny caught my eye. I was one of the ones
who posted such good results for my husband, Ken after starting Aricept. He
had PD for 10 years before he was diagnosed with Shy-drager syndrome too. He
had been told early on in his diagnosis that he was probably  one of the PWP
who would develop dementia( after extensive testing @ UCIrvine). After he had
been on sinemet for a few weeks, all his   symptoms disappeared and he was
able to return to work as a judge for another 8 years with no signs of
dementia at all. In fact, his neurologist indicated that the prognosis might
have been mistaken. Then, he slowly began to be confused and to forget things.
This progressed to the point that he at times forgot who I and other members
of his family were. He went through a very difficult stage  of daily paranoia
and would refuse to take his meds. He even dialed 911 and told them his wife
was poisening him. Fortunately he was so confused sounding that they took my
word for his having dementia. About a year ago, he started on Aricept with
spectacular results. He can now talk clearly most of the time. He reads the
daily paper and comments on what he reads. He recognises all the members of
his family including new grandchildren and calls them by name. His recall,
both recent and past has improved to the point that he can watch Jeopardy and
answer some of the questions before the contestants(he used to be the family
Trivial Pursuit champion). He listens to logic and shows no paranoia anymore.
Everyone who sees him comments on the amazing change. BUT,  last week, we
visited his neurologist who is the clinical director of our local branch of
PDF, and she said she has tried Aricept alot and she has only one patient who
has shown such good results, KEN!.. So we are among the very few who are
helped so much. Remember, Ken   has Shy-dragers and that has a shortage of
acetylcholine and norepinephrine just the opposite of pure parkinsons. This
has been a long post, but you asked.      Barbara Smith, CG/Ken/70/17