Parkinson’s Medications.net
It’s important to start out by saying that I am not a trained medical person. When it comes to your own health condition and circumstances, I highly encourage you to seek out and consult a trained motion disorders specialist that you feel comfortable with, whom you respect- and who respects you.
When I first began to suspect I had Parkinson’s Disease, I found it very frustrating and discouraging that, while there is an enormous amount of information on Parkinson’s medications available on the Internet, I was not quite sure how, or even if, any of it applied to me.
Two of the most important unanswered questions were: what did it actually feel like to take Parkinson’s medications and what effect would they have on me?
This site is based on my own personal experience and that of others dealing with Parkinson’s Disease.
Here is my story-
I began to experience a very slight tremor in my right hand back in the Fall of 2005. At my annual checkup in early 2006, I mentioned this to my doctor. He had me hold my hand out with my eyes closed and noticed that the tremor continued. At the time he said it was probably nothing, possibly just essential tremor.
Two years later, by the fall and early winter of 2007, I was experiencing major symptoms. My mind worked much more slowly than it previously had. I found it very difficult to tie my shoelaces, button shirt cuffs & collars or to tie a tie.
The tremor grew increasingly worse. It was no longer just in my right hand but extended up my entire arm, pretty much every waking moment. It got to the point that I considered getting some muscle relaxants to ease the muscles in my right arm, as it ached due to the constant tremor. This, despite the fact I had pretty much been opposed to taking medication for myself my entire adult life.
One other particularly noteworthy symptom was the severe exhaustion and fatigue I experienced on an almost daily basis. I would mentally and emotionally drag myself to the end of the day, totally exhausted.
In the evenings especially it would often be very, very difficult to find the right words to express my thoughts. It took a great deal of effort and time to ask questions and express my feelings. I talked more slowly, thought more slowly and walked more slowly.
By the end of the day, I was often so exhausted I would say it felt like I had lived 1000 years in a single day.
I go to see a Movement Disorders specialist…..
Because of the buildup of these and other symptoms (which I later found were progressing at a rate faster than the standard or average), I made an appointment to see a motion disorders specialist in the Twin Cities area. Having done a great deal of research on Parkinson’s up to that point, I was pretty much convinced that I did have Parkinson’s disease.
However, I wanted to consult someone who had a special interest in Parkinson’s, who had seen it in hundreds if not thousands of people and therefore knew how to quickly identify Parkinson’s.
This way, they could determine whether I had Parkinson’s based on comparing me with their database of experience from hundreds of Parkinson’s patients. The story of my official diagnosis with Parkinson’s in February 2008 is posted on a later page.
For a period of six months after the diagnosis, I attempted to manage the symptoms with herbs and supplements only, and then finally began taking a Parkinson’s specific medication in August of 2008.
Parkinson’s medications.net is a way to communicate what I have personally learned through my experience of having diagnosed myself with Parkinson’s and having that self diagnosis confirmed by a motion disorders specialist.
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There are a number of excellent organizations that focus on Parkinson’s Disease and medications.
Parkinson’s Disease symptoms can be found at:
theNeurology Channeland theMayo Clinic’s site:
The Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, WebMD and the National Parkinson Foundation web sites are excellent resources for Parkinson’s medication options:
My personal favorite site, because it is the most “user friendly” in terms of the value of the material, is the Michael J. Fox organization on PD as a neurological disorder:
Additionally, WikiPedia & Medicine.net have useful background on movement disorders