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Dear Marie, Thank you for your great advice. I am seeing a neuro (pd specialist) in a couple of weeks for the first time. Thanks to you and the many others who have answered my post, I feel good about my upcoming appt, knowing I have lots of things to discuss and questions to ask. I was real apprehensive about this appt until all of you kind people helped me find solutions. Just a note for you, Marie. I have had very bad experiences in the past with antidepressants, they just dont agree with me so I will heed your advice to a tee on that one. I will ask the doc about perhaps a night dose and, by the way, my husband (when he feels up to it) gives great massages. Thanks again Jennifer Smith [log in to unmask] wrote: > Dear Jennifer: My husband has much the same problems you experience. I share > some of our approach, simply as something to consider- > He's had PD for l2 yr. and from the beginning we realized massage helps. > It > just makes him feel better, don't really know if there is med. reasons or long > term > affects on progression, but I can feel much of the stiffness and rigidity > leave him as > I massage- some days he's "loose" , others tight, but always the contact > helps. > It sounds like what you are doing in exercise, showers, etc, is great- I wish > he had > the overall energy to do that -I encourage and help all I can. > Our reasoning also tells us to keep the Sinimet as even in the system > over a > 24 hr. period - so we have always gone to the trouble of taking medication on > a 6 > hour interval, including 1-2 A.M. . When he started with a new Neuro- he was > told > to drop the overnite dosing, and compress the intervals to 3 hr. - No good for > him. > It caused too much fluctuations and he felt terrrible. Several times and ways > we > have tried to wean off the overnite pill, always with bad effects. We find > that as > long as he gets 4 hr stretches of good sleep at a time, overall he feels > better. This > works for us- may not for you but thought I'd give you the input anyway... > The depression is something we also have dealt with "together" - a couple > of > times Dr. have prescribed mild sedatives but he has found it better to stay > off the > medication and deal with it from other aspects of his life. If you want more > discus- > sion about this, let me know - I know many people believe strongly that > medication > is the way to go, but pertaining to depression, my recommendation if to keep > talking and explore the best solutions FOR YOU- my door is certainly open for > any private discussions- and I feel the list is a great source of help... > Hoping this 2cents worth gives you some ideas, if nothing else, > encouragement that can help you through the nights... > > Marie