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hi susan At 09:33 1998/11/21 -0800, you wrote: >Our Family Doctor ... mother may also have dementia... >My mother is on sinemet right now and it seems that >as soon as she is given artane too my mother becomes >more and more confused. Yesterday, she was so >confused she didn't know where she was, she told me >this long convoluted tale of where she had been the >day before ( all of it totally bizaare ), >she doesn't know or understand what time it is,etc ... my dear susan all of this must be so frustrating for you! it seems to me that if your mother was not 'confused' seven weeks ago that it would make sense to get her back on the meds that she was taking then as a 'clean' starting point i believe that you said she had been taking artane regularly and sinemet only occasionally, and that, with that regime, she had been doing quite well physically and cognitively, pd-wise >Saddly, with the combination of these two drugs she >physically improves greatly, but mentally she is totally >out of it!!! Our Doctor feels that my mother is sensitive >to these drugs because of dementia and they make her >more confused. this 'confusion' sounds like it might result from sinemet plus artane which could be simply over-medication of levodopa not unusual at all with pd meds >Has anyone heard of anything like this before? I know my >mother has had tiny episodes of mild confusion in the past >and also her knowledge of mathematics is gone, she also >complained of of memory loss, so I wonder if it is the >drugs causing this or is the Doctor right about dementia? >My mother was diagnosed with parkinson's disease in '92 and >about a few years ago my she began to complain of having more >difficulty with doing math. She is 67. Does dementia come on >that fast???? Is there a test to prove one has dementia?... i understand that approximately one third of all parkies suffer from dementia, but i am not sure how quickly it develops however, my hunch is that it would tend to develop at the same speed as pd; that is very sl-o-o-o-o-w-w-w-ly! your mother's sudden slide still sounds [to me] like something drug-induced when she saw her neurologist dr. tessler [?] seven weeks ago did he make any change in her med routine? can you confirm that with him by telephone? or could her g.p. dr. swift call him and confirm it? i know that she has other health problems too and takes other medications - were any of these changed recently? maybe her pharmacist would [should] have a complete record of what has been prescribed and by whom over the past two to three months? good luck with the digging and the questioning, susan! the 'squeaky wheel gets the oil' and 'persistence pays' !! i'm sure that dr. swift wants your mother to improve [as much as we all do] but sadly, pd is still not all that well understood yet especially when it comes to 'fine tuning' the meds [which it always eventually comes down to] by the general population [both lay and medico] i've sent one of my postings separately in re our brain chemisty for your information and encouragement [f.y.i.a.e.] >To see me: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Flats/1391/index.html susan, i'm very impressed! your website is comprehensive _and_ good-looking! you may or may not be impressed in return with the facts that i: 1. used to live in bermuda - the garden of the atlantic 2. am currently owned by spike, speckles, spud and stubby 3. am in the process of being approved for an ontario disability pension don't forget - you are not alone in this; we neuro-chemically-challenged-cyber-siblings are all in this for the long run your and your mother's cyber-sibling janet janet paterson - 51 now /41 dx /37 onset - almonte/ontario/canada http://www.newcountry.nu/pd/members/janet/ [log in to unmask]