Seizure-like tremors, episodic

My Dad has been experiencing what I'm calling "seizure-like tremors" which he experiences on a daily basis. I've decided to call it seizure-like after I saw his EEG readings on a monitor several different episodes while he was being monitored in a hospital over a 3 day period. He has a normal resting tremor and the EEG is very rhythmic and predictable. Then when an episode comes on, the waves on the EEG gradually start to get much bigger and then there is huge amounts of activity bouncing all over the place, and looks like what I describe as a brain storm of activity. During these episodes his face goes blank, his muscles contract, he starts sweating on his head and neck, and he starts shaking very vigorously. He can't communicate and I can't tell if he can understand what I'm saying to him. He usually falls asleep after this and then can't really remember it happening afterward. One time when he knew it was coming on he said "I'm getting lost again". And often, when he's done he says something like "I can't do this anymore". These episodes can last anywhere from 15-45 minutes each time. Does this sound familiar to anyone out there, and if so, what have you learned about it?

Hi Dan,
My Dad has been on Sinemet for 17 years and many many other drugs in combination with Sinemet. I was not much involved with his care until 2 years ago when he was having so much trouble, the assisted living place he was residing in contacted my sister and me. We moved him closer to us (he had been 6 hours drive away before) and got him set up with a movement disorder specialist. He started weening him off of all the other PD medications except for Sinemet. On top of all the PD medications he has been on a handful of other medication which are supposed to help with the negative side-effects of the Sinemet and PD (depression, anxiety, combativeness, etc.) He has been in the hospital for the past 2 weeks now and they recently reduced his Sinemet and started him on Azilect. The Azilect seemed to really help his resting tremors (almost all gone) but his seizure-like tremors are horrible and happen all the time still.

Interestingly, his previous neurologist is a Movement Disorder/Parkinson's specialist in our state's premier teaching hospital, and his new neurologist is the only doctor taking new patients in the small town that he lives in now. I think the baseline of PD is just a constant moving target so it is probably most important to find a physician who has the patience to keep following the patient, really listen to the symptoms and have an inkling of curiosity about what is happening in the patient's brain.

JBP, please look into the ketogenic diet. This is proving to help people with epilepsy. Had been around years ago, and has gotten a resurgence in interest and the results have been quite positive, where the numbe of seizures have decreased almost immediately in some. In fact there are some with PD who have also have some improvements with symptoms. Google KETOGENIC DIET.

fooshoho

I see this is a very old post but thought I'd try to reach out to you for info. I was amazed to find your post -- the symptoms you decribed for your Dad seem identical to what my Mom experiences with the shaking and sweating at very predictable times. I don't know of anybody else who went throuogh this and the doctors too can't explain it. Were you ever able to determine what was going on during those episodes? My mom can't communicate to tell us anything additional. We have ruled out it being a blood sugar drop. If anything, it appears to be most closely related to her sinemet wearing off as it usually takes place about 4 hours after her doses. However, even increasing her dose, it doesn't help. Mom also can't take the extended release tabs of sinemet as we need to crush her meds, so that isn't an option for us. If you are still on this forum and could reply with any findings, I would love to hear from you. Thanks so much.

Hi Mr Nicholson,

Unfortunately I never received any replies to my post so I can only elaborate on my mom's condition. Let me first state that my mom was never diagnosed with having an actual seizure - no EEG readings for her as compared to fooshoho's post.

For us it is very "seizure like" with the sweating, shaking, and as you stated not a typical parkinson's symptom. Mom's episodes typically passes in a half hour. The closest we have come to identifying what her symptoms are is that it is medicine related. Her shaking typically comes at the same times each day. Until just recently she was taking (2) 25/100 sinemet tablets 3 times a day. Since she is not able to take the extended release sinemet (since we have to crush her meds and ER tabs can't be crushed), the doctor suggested trying 1 additional 25/100 tablet in between her morning and afternoon dose and that has seemed to help. For the most part she does not go into the severe sweating and shaking.

We do still see a more severe shake down episode between the afternoon and evening dose but for the time being we are not adding another sinemet tablet to that time frame just yet. The doctor considers her to be on a fairly high dose of the sinemet already and doesn't want to keep increasing it too quickly.

Some other info in case it is beneficial to you: she has had PD for about 10 years as well as Alzheimer's. Currently, the only other meds she is taking besides the sinemet are Namenda (for the Alzheimers), and Lexipro for (Anxiety), and some B and D vitamins.

I hope this might be of some help to you. If you have any other questions I'd be glad to share with you what we have experienced. Also, if you come across some answers to this seizure like symptom please let me know as well.

Thanks,
81kymd