Sinemet--Message 20 ll-19

[Guest guest]

Message: 20

Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2005 12:18:30 -0600 (Central Standard Time)

Subject: Re: Sinemet (Dixie)

my dad was one of those few that couldnt take sinemet, at that point

he

knew he had a brain disess and it was a mans name and he kep tellingme

that

the medicine was upsetting the little man in his head, that the man

kept

talking ot him and telling him bad things. so we took him off sinemet.

and

he stopped complaining about the little man, so again every lbd patient

is

different. sigh hugs sharon m

Hi Sharon,

My name is Ruth. My husband is 80, has had PD for 8 1/2 years, and according

to my own diagnosis, also has LBD. He was given Sinemet about 6 years ago. The

second day he started to have hallucinations and said people were trying to

drive him crazy. He only took it a short time. A year later his doctor

prescribed Requip which he took for two weeks, but stopped it because he fell

five times during that period.

Therefore, his muscles are very rigid, the only thing he can do for himself is

to feed himself, but even that is a very slow process. He can walk slowly, but

always with his four-wheeled walker and me behind him. That began after his

100th fall about six months ago. Fortunately he has never had any broken bones,

On most days his mind is OK and he reads the newspaper, watches TV, and talks

normally. But, now at least once a week he has bad days when all he does is sit

in his lift chair and stare. He has hallucinations, gets anxiety attacks,

mumbles constantly, is incontinent and can't even feed himself. After a day or

two like this he sleeps all night and all day, except to eat and use the

bathroom. Then he is OK again for a few days. Two years ago, when this

started, it would happen about every three months but has the frequency has

gradually increased.

I find this kind of behavior very hard to deal with! I'm his full-time

caretaker except for six hours every Wednesday when I hire a lady to stay with

him so that I can run errands and do the necessary shopping.

We have a starter kit of Namenda so I am soon going to try it, but I will

begin by cutting each tablet in half. He has been taking Aricept for 8 years.

There is no way of knowing if it is helping or not.

Ruth in PA

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