Drugs CAUSING shakes

Girlirish

Girlish -

The mental slowness and inability to speak articulately was one of the big factors that made me decide to go on PD meds.  I just turned 45 and have been a business professional for most of my adult life.  It was very fustrating for me to not be able to recall words when speaking and make my thought process come out coherently.  The other big thing that made me decide to go on meds was the decrease in typing speed.  I normally type 65+wpm, and without meds I type less than 30 wpm.  In my job that is totally unacceptable.  So, as others have said the big thing to do when deciding if you should start medication is to look at your quality of life.  Now that I am on meds I have more energy, less aches and pains, and feel like I did when I was in my 20's!  I'll take the chance of side effects for those results anyday.  So far, I have not experienced any side effects from the medication except when I was first started on the drugs I had diahhrea and lost weight.  (I didn't complain about that side effect.)  And, I also had some trouble with my eyes dilating, but when we adjusted the dosage down just a little both of these stopped.  So now all is good.  I would definately recommend that you discuss medication options with your doctor, but never let the doctors determine what is best for you.  We all must be proactive in our treatment because as others have already said this disease affects each of us in a little different manner.  BTW, I was just diagnosed in January of this year, so you can tell I didn't put up with my symptoms long before I was seeking relief. 

Best of luck to you, and God Bless!

JB

I deal with symptoms as they occur,  insomnia, constipation, anxiety, joint pain, swallowing difficulty, loss of voice quality, reduced cognitive function, instability and tremors.

Some are dealt with by medications, some by lifestyle chnages and some I try to ignore (like poor typing).

Good luck

You are not alone

Jerry

Good morning Girl Irish and others reading this post.

Just to add my two pennyworth about the shakes.   At the start of my PD I was put on Diazapam as I was very uptight.  I met a PD specialist nurse at a social gathering and she advised me to have my doctor replace the Diazapam, which is a tranquiliser, with a Betablocker.  It worked for me and I am still taking Betablockers alongside Sinemet and Selegiline.

When feeling stressed or anxious I get the shakes quite strongly but usually am able to control them through a bit of mind over matter. 

As to what Shakey said about the doctors prescribing drugs as "the benefit is greater than the risk of side effects".   Well there are other points of view on this and my own, based on reading research and internet pages, is that all drugs have their own consequences and those of us who take drugs for PD are, in a way, guinea pigs because doctors and neuro's cannot say with certainty how a drug dosage is going to affect an individual until they have been on the drug for a while. Drugs that affect some people in adverse ways can be withdrawn with no harm done but each of us should be aware of our own feelings and question the prescribing doctor or neuro as to 'what is this drug aiming to achieve for me'.

There are studies going on right now to assess levadopa induced dyskinesia and whilst we should all understand that although the neuro's know more than we do and respect their advice, we should, nevertheless, bear in mind that long term use of some drugs can be counter productive in the long run.

The contribution from Jerry (Irish Gramp) is well worth reading and taking on board.  He has put what I have to say in a nutshell regarding the approach of all the little annoyances that come to us all with PD.  Well said Jerry

God Bless BILLY