Dear Doug:
The hallucinations that a person with Parkinson's gets are
due to the medication. Do you know if her Sinemet and/or other PD drugs
(agonists, etc.) have been adjusted recently? If so, a decrease in
one or more of the medications may be in order. Also, the vomiting and diarrhea
are not typical of PD (more often than not, constipation, not diarrhea, is a
problem), however, some medications, such as Tasmar, can indeed cause
uncontrollable diarrhea.
It must be advised to look at all possibilities for the
changes in your mother. Theses changes may or may not have anything to do
with Parkinson's.
You mention the Mayo clinic. I don't know if your
mother is under their treatment for PD since she is in a Nursing Home.
Hopefully, it is a neurologist, not a general practitioner, that is
treating the PD while she is in the Nursing Home.
My very best wishes to your mother.
Sincerely,
Bonnie Cunningham, R.N.
Patient Services Director
National Parkinson Foundation
Date: Sat, 4 Dec 1999 19:40:04
-0600
From: Douglas Vukson-Van Beek <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Hello and
Help...
Hello everyone.
I am a very new member of the group and this
is my first point. I am the
child of a Parkinson's Patient in
Minnesota, USA. And we have come to a
very difficult stage in my mom's
treatment. I am hoping that someone out
there as some insight for me
and my family.
Quick medical history:
Mom, Marilyn Van Beek, was
diagnosed with PD about 25 years ago, she is now
67. I am told that she
is the patient taking the most medication of any
patient seen at the Mayo
clinic. She is confined to a Nursing Home no
longer able to walk, or
even get out of the wheel chair. She had the
palitodomy (I am sorry
about the spelling) surgery about 6 years ago on one
side of the brain.
The improvements from the surgery were amazing. Mom
suffers mostly from
rigidity. She takes cinemet (again my spelling....)
every four
hours. This is all that I can think of off the top of my head,
if there
are specifics that can help with advise please let me know.
Now, the
problem is that in the last 3 weeks, mom has gone from being
responsive,
coherent, and healthy to having hallucinations, confused, and
vomiting with
severe diarrhea. I do not believe these symptoms to be PD
related, but
people at the Nursing Home believe that they are.
Any
suggestions.... Please.....
Doug Vukson-Van Beek
[log in to unmask]
www.gryph.com
p.s. I like weigh in on the
Blueberry question in pancakes, no
spinach.....