May Post: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly...

I visited my new neurologist in St. Louis this month and per the theme of the spaghetti western "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly", here is what I was told. First, the bad: Very certain that I have Parkinson's Disease (PD) and that I have probably had the symptoms per my description for about 2 years. The good: It is likely I have a "good form" of PD in that those patients that have tremors versus those who do not in early stages tend to have a much slower progression of the disease. Further, tests for a disease called "Wilson's Disease" were negative (that would have been the "Ugly").

For treatment, they have started me on a regimine of a drug called Sinemet which is a combination of two drugs that the brain turns into Dopamine. The first week was at half dose and while the amplitude of tremors went down, the tremors persist on my left side. Now I am up to full dose and I am finding that spacing between the doses are important. We'll see how things go into June...

April Post

As for my April update, there have been some changes in my Parkinson's Disease (PD) related condition. First, as mentioned in March, I started on a dopamine agonist drug in patch form called "Neupro". This drug, while not a dopamine which is what I am lacking due to the PD, mimics the action of dopamine which is a "neurotransmitter chemical produced in the brain that helps in the transmission of messages between the nerve cells in the brain to produce smooth, coordinated movement" (http://www.pspinformation.com/medicine/individual/neupro.shtml). I started with a 2mg dose and then each week advanced to a 4mg and then 6mg dose per my neurologist in Texas.

Unfortunately, my tremors seemed to get worse and started in my thigh where I had not had a tremor before. Also, I had a rash develop anywhere the patch was located. A capsule form was also available but it was decided to go with the patch since it was a once-a-day thing versus 3 times a day for the pills. The neurologist decided to take me off the patch mainly due to the fact that I chose to see a more "local" neurologist in St. Louis at the Washington University Movement Disorder Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital so that they could start with a "clean slate" when I started treatment there. That appointment is scheduled for May 21 currently.

I'll update the blog when I find out more from the new neurologist in St. Louis. As for the tremors, they remain in the same locations as in the last update of "Mr. Bill" (left wrist, left thumb, left calf). I have had a couple intense bouts of depression (just a general sadness) during that time but as quickly as they came on, they ended after about a week of duration. As there did not seem to be any reason for the depression, I believe it to be caused by the PD and the dopamine levels.

Take care from SE Missouri...
Jim

I'm Back!

Looking back at my last post, I realize it has been a few months since I last contributed to that phenomenon called the "blog" (and according to Google and their hit counter, only 2 other people know that :-). Just an update for now on my Parkinson's:

The Parkinson's actually got worse over the last few months. The shaking in my left hand/wrist is fairly constant all day long except when I sleep. When stressed, my left leg joins in. This week my neurologist started me on Neupro which is a "dopamine agonist" which "mimics dompamine" and hopefully will squelch my shaking. We shall see... I have just started the Rx and it will be slowly dosed up over the next 3 weeks.

More as I get back into blogging....