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On 17 Dec 99 at 23:27, Susan Schmidt wrote: > Jeannette, Dick is seeing a neurologist that his heart doctor > reccommended. He ssems to be competent enough, but not one to get overly > involved with his patients. I have only talked to him once. Dick > usually goes to his doctors by himself. He goes when he is suppose to > and is not afraid to call and ask questions and he will do what the > doctors tell him, (most of the time) He takes his medication but > sometimes not as he should. He has short term memory loss from his > heart attacks. > Sue, I have had short term memory loss as a symptom of a neurological disorder (Parkinsons) for many years. I do not have heart trouble. > > It is quite a balancing act between keeping the PD meds > coordinated with the heart meds. He has only been on Sinement about a > year, but in that time, it has been increased three times. But in spite > of all this, he still get up at 5am an goes to work and does not stop > until 6pm or later. > I also have opted to ignore disability pensions in favor of continuing to work full time. Like Dick I rise at an early hour and work a 10 - 12 hour day. I personally find working at my trade after 37 years to be therapeutic and I heartily recommend keeping as busy as possible. > > His idea has always been that no matter what you just get up every > morning and do what you have to do to the best of your ability and the > rest will take care of itself. I think I get more out of this list > than he does. He does not seem to interested in what I am learning. > At first, I wanted him to take a disability from the company and stay > home and take it easy and enjoy his life while he can, but, now I am > not so sure. Maybe he is doing what is best for him. We all cope in > our own way. I just want him to have the best of whatever is available > to him at any given time. My concern is that everytime he has a problem > like twitching all night, losing is speech in the middle of the day, (he > is a saleman and that can be very disconcerting to customers as they > sometimes think he is drunk because his speech gets very thick and > slurred.) his doctor just gives him another pill. It seems I spend all > my time ordering medication. Some of it helps and some doesn't. It also > seems to me that since the onset of his symptoms (he was unable to > control his saliva) that he has developed other symptoms at a very rapid > pace, but his doctor seems to think > this is normal and just increases his medicine. I guess I just want to > know if this is how it goes. I feel we are ignorantly just doing what > we are told to do and hoping that we are doing the right thing.. > Suecg > Sue, I have tried all kinds of diet supplements and vitamins in addition to my meds (Sinemet) and the only thing I've found that seems to work for me is Vitamins E & C (the time release version of Vit C). Since your husband has a history of heart problems in addition to PD, I strongly recommend you consult closely with your physician before trying any alternative therapy, even Vitamins. I have practiced speaking (enunciation) daily for years by echoing the news on the radio in my car. A speech therapist once told me to always keep your line of vision at the horizon level or above (lowering your head restricts your air passages) and to keep my volume up by speaking as though I were specifically addressing the person farthest from me (in a group). Drinking lots of water is beneficial for saliva control and the "thick tongue" feeling, in my opinion. All the best to you and Dick ................... murray [log in to unmask]