How many prescription drugs do you take? One? Four? Twelve? Why do I raise this topic? Because my meds make me sick. Yes, I've complained about this before. (My pharmacist says I'm not complaining - I'm merely bring to the attention of my doctors a bothersome side effect. Let's go with that.) Recently, I discontinued 3 meds in an effort to figure out which one is making me sick. (Not to worry - I still have plenty of others to take.) My doctor (I need to name these doctors like I did Bob - let's go with "The General" for my psychiatrist. It means something to me - go with it.) . . .Anyway, The General didn't select them at random. He took the likelier suspect away one from each of the "illnesses" they were treating: depression, bipolar and Parkinson's. (He didn't say that - I figured it out!) After 3 days off of those meds, I told my daughter that I could not remember the last time I felt that good. I thought I might be on the upswing of this whole medicine thing.
Of course (well not really "of course"), being off of the depression med has caused me to have increased ---- wait ---- depression. I don't care for that feeling, but The General thinks the Parkinson's med - Requip - is the culprit, so in conference with my neurologist (let's call him Dr. Motion), the three of us decided to get me straight on a different Parkinson's treatment before going after the depression. Thus I'm off Requip and not throwing up - for the time being. This is good news and not-so-good news.
Prescribing a Parkinson's medicine is tricky. WebMD says:
Currently, levodopa is thought to be the most effective drug for controlling symptoms of Parkinson's disease and for many years was the preferred drug for treating newly diagnosed people. But because long-term use of levodopa at high dosages often leads to motor complications that can be difficult to manage, sometimes doctors use dopamine agonists (such as pramipexole and ropinole [Requip]) to treat people during the early stages of Parkinson's disease. Using these drugs in the early stages of the disease may allow treatment with levodopa to be delayed.
That's what I was trying to do: use Requip in order to delay and minimize using lovodopa - not so much because of the motor complications - but because I want to "save" the lovadopa for later. I took a low dose of it prior to dropping the Requip, and have increased my dosage now. I don't care for this course because I don't want to outlive the lovadopa's effectiveness and have nothing in later stages that helps. It's a belief I have that may not prove to be correct.
I can get all philosophical about a good news/bad news thing. Good news: I'm no longer throwing up. Bad news: I'm using more lovadopa than I want. No news: none of it may matter. Life is like that. We have to look at the glass half empty or half full.
But.......................please, please, please. I am not a philosophical sage - far from it. I learn lessons the hard way - not by contemplating how much sparkling water (my drink of choice since 1/1/12) is in my glass (or, in my case, the La Croix can). Wondering what I'm talking about? That is in the next post.
G
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It's January 3, 2012, 12:05 AM. The "Holiday Season" FINALLY is over and I'm going to party like it's 1999 (thank you, Prince). Why you ask? Don't I have it backwards? Nope. If ever there was a season that justified the irrational act of suicide, for some of us, the Holiday Season is it. The mounting demands, my family's other family, the unfulfillable expectations, the commotion, the expense, the celebration of 4 - yes, 4 - birthdays (including mine).
Someone who has Parkinson's Disease can tell you that stress and change of routine will exaggerate Parkinson's symptoms. Tremors become more pronounced. Balance becomes more of an issue. It may be more difficult to remember things. I got lost 3 times on one trip driving to my psychiatrist's office. Believe me when I tell you that I been there enough times to know how to get there.
For someone who struggles to keep a routine, the Holiday Season can make it next to impossible. (Personally, I don't struggle. I fail.) Every year I try to make it less demanding. I've reduced the size of the Christmas feast. I've stopped making apple butter. I've skipped putting up a Christmas tree. I use on-line shopping and send my kids out to buy things for their siblings. Heck, between rounds of vomiting, this year, I sent them out to buy their own stuff. AND, I skipped Christmas cards. But, still, I had more anxiety attacks than there are halls decked with boughs of holly. The whole time I just kept saying to myself, "Just get through to January 3rd. Just get through to January 3rd." Of course, the whole ordeal was stretched out an extra day because January 2 was part of the "Holiday Season." I felt cheated by that.
When I took my "Holiday Season" essay in for Bob to read on December 20, I was well in to my anxiety, grumpiness, good-time-to-commit-suicide mode. Bob told me that a lot of people felt the same way I did. Sadly, many of them did not look past the ball dropping on Times Square and the pork roast and sauerkraut on New Year's Day (which is another thing I didn't do this year) to wait for the calm of the first week of January on the other side.
But here I am. I made it. I jumped on-line yesterday and bought a down commuter coat for more than half off while I sucked on a half-price candy cane from Walgreen's. (Peppermint is supposed to relieve my ever-present nausea.) My younger daughter learned on December 30 that she was accepted to her number 1 college choice, so I started researching ways to pay for it and she started implementing them! I haven't broken any New Year's resolutions yet because I didn't make any. I certainly don't need that kind of pressure and those demands.
The strategy of identifying a "just get to" date works pretty well for me. I use it throughout the year. It keeps me calm and, thus, permits my meds to work and keeps those bothersome Parkinson's symptoms at bay. My "just get to" date is usually my next appointment with Bob. Because it is a periodic date, I can set intermediate "get to dates" if I need.
Now, I'm going to blow out my Christmas tree-scented candle (easier than a live Christmas tree) and go to bed. I made it and I have another 10 lovely months before someone calls me wanting to know what I'm doing for Thanksgiving, which will start the whole wretched Holiday Season over again.
Of course, if I'm to believe the Mayans, Christmas 2011 was it - the last Christmas. I don't wish for the end of the world. Of course not. But that doesn't prevent me from taking the position with anyone who will listen that I'm not preparing for Christmas 2012 because there isn't going to be one. No demands. No shopping. No expectations. I will say it with a grin on my face and a twinkle in my eye because it's such a wonderful excuse. "When Christmas arrives, I will simply shrug and say, "Who would have thought the Mayans would be wrong?" After that, all I'll need to do is think up an equally amusing reason not to prepare for Christmas 2013.
Happy New Year!
G
There are people who truly have made a difference with their contribution to medicine. Sir Alexander Fleming discovered the science that eventually led to penicillin. Robert Jarvik designed the Jarvik-7 artificial heart, which kept Barney Clark alive for 112 days. Wilhelm Roentgen discovered the x-ray. Louis Pasteur originated the science of vaccines.
People who don't have a science background also lend their talents to generate funds necessary to perform the research that improves medicine. Michael J. Fox created a foundation to fund PD research and is doing quite well at it. Who hasn't spent at least one Labor Day weekend watching the Jerry Lewis telethon raise money for muscular dystrophy research? How many times have we seen the infamous pink ribbon? We know that ribbon represents the fight to find a cure for breast cancer. Nancy G. Brinker started that movement because of a promise she made to her sister as her sister died from breast cancer.
There's a third way to contribute to the cause, though. Those of us who have Parkinson's Disease can make a different kind of contribution. We can participate in research trials.
I've scoured the trials listed in the link I've included with this posting. I haven't found anything yet. I thought I found one for which I would qualify that studied a new drug's effects on dementia, but the study requires someone who has not suffered from severe depression. That knocked me out. But I find that kind of interesting. Depression is a symptom of Parkinson's. It's also something that arises because one has Parkinson's. So what percentage of the population out there that has Parkinson's would actually qualify for participation in this particular study? And who among us who recognizes that we suffer from the onset of Parkinson's dementia might not be depressed about that?
I'm going to keep looking. Somewhere out there is a research project that needs a 55-year-old female, post-menopausal, bipolar II, early-stage Parkinson's patient diagnosed within the past 5 years whose daily medicine regime includes Lamictal, lithum, Requip, carpadopa/lovadopa, Wellbutrin, Adderall, Lunesta, Aricept and Prilosec. (Please, I have a good friend who chides me daily for the amount of medicine I take. I know it, and believe it or not, I have actually reduced the kinds and amounts I take. Seriously, I'll have 3 kids in college next year - I have something better to do with the thousands of dollars I spend in a year on drugs, so I do not jump at the opportunity to add one to the list. It just takes time.)
Think about it. If you happen to be looking through a list of studies, perhaps to find one in which you can participate, and you see one that needs, well, you know - just look back to the preceding paragraph - let me know.
G
