Yesterday,
I had an appointment with my neurologist/mobility physician who handles my
issues with Parkinson's Disease. I am doing well, although I definitely have
that ailment. He
increased my dosage of Sinemet, the mainstay in Parkinson treatment. This was a
four month follow-up.
I certainly
have problems with ambulation, but this is to be expected. My tremor is not a
big issue; it’s mostly on the left side. One of the main things that it affects is my
typing—this blog, for instance, has to be carefully edited and all those extra
z’s and s’s removed. My handwriting continues to be awful—being almost legally
blind doesn’t help. I’ve given up writing long-hand, since it is so difficult
to read my own writing that I have to recompose whatever I’m writing when I
try to enter it into a computer. Since vision is such a problem, I need to
dictate into the computer.
--Stop! A
significant new problem: the new dose of the Parkinson’s medicine. I took it
for a few days, and noticed a distinct improvement with my mobility issues. However,
a side effect soon became apparent. The medicine, Sinemet, is a combination of
carbidopa and leva dopa. The carbidopa helps the medicine pass through the blood
brain barrier into the brain. There it can enter the basal ganglia, the
mobility centers of the brain, and help motor function. Yet, I imagine, that
its effects on the brain aren’t limited to the basal ganglia. I began to be
confused. I still was aware of my surroundings, but the feeling bordered on
panic. Is this a side effect that would diminish with continued use of the drug? Perhaps, but the side effect was so great that I’d rather deal with reduced
mobility, at least for the time being. So I decided to take the increased
dosage at night, which, I presume, will help me get out of bed better in the
morning.—The medicine works, but if I can’t function, it’s best to stay seated!
….Well,I'm seate--again.
