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Hello Leslie and Bill You wrote: > This is the problem - In January, my mother in law was found > conscious but unable to move on the floor in her apartment. > .... within 6 hrs of admission, diagnosis was Parkinsin's disease and > Eldripril and Simimet were started. Diagnosis was made by > observation by the neurologist only - Inability to move occurs in end stage of Parkinson's disease (PD). PD takes many years to develop, through which a patient shows 2 or 3 of the principle symptoms of tremor, stiffness and slowness of movement, and these start at a barely noticeable level and gradually increase in intensity over time. The only instances of PD progressing to the end stage of the disease within a few days occurred in the 1960's when some drug addicts took a "designer" drug containing a substance MPTP that was highly neurotoxic. > We demanded a second opinion and the 2nd neurologist gave the > diagnosis of normal pressure hydrocephalus and multiple previous > strokes. She also told us that the fluid pressure can cause a > parkinson syndrome not actually parkinson disease. This seems closer to the truth. > Since then her primary vare doctor demanded she be on the meds even > when I explained that she had no symptoms- she told me that the > symptoms of Parkinson's disease can come and go and we needed to get > her back on the meds before the symptoms came back. MY QUESTION: DO > THE SYMPTOMS OF PARKINSON'S DISEASE COME AND GO?? Certainly not like that. In a patient who has had PD for several years, and depending on when the patient last took PD meds and how well they work, yes. This doctor doesn't know anything about PD. Can you replace the primary physician? This is a most unfortunate story of what sounds like inexcusable ignorance and incompetence. Phil Tompkins Hoboken NJ age 61/dx 1990