This week’s episode of Thymptom Thurthday (“Invisibility and Parkinson’s”) is hereby cancelled, as I have something new to tell you about: I have the new Vyalev pump! After weeks of waiting for insurance approvals (among other things), I went to my Parkinson’s Disease (PD) Specialist’s … Continue reading Vyalev Pump: It Begins
Welcome to the first official installment of Thymptom Thurthday (which may and/or may not be sponsored by Sylvester the cat). Under the ostriches auspices of Thymptom Thurthday, I will detail my own experiences with the many symptoms and side effects of Parkinson’s Disease (PD), covering … Continue reading Parkinson’s Symptoms: Anxiety
On my most recent visit to The Parkinson’s Specialist Place, I was given a supply of Crexont, a new formulation of Levodopa. It’s an extended-release formulation, enabling me to take just three doses a day, which kicks the crap out of the six times a … Continue reading New Levodopa Formulation
Due to a combination of poor health and flat-out laziness, it’s been a month and a half since I last updated y’all on my nicotine trials. To make a long story short, I was convicted on all counts. No, wait! Not that kind of trial! … Continue reading Summary of Nicotine Results
Note: this is a continuation from Part 1. Well, I’ve got it all figured out now. The drastic change in symptoms that I described in Part 1 was due to nicotine poisoning. When I ran out of my initial two-week supply of nicotine patches, I … Continue reading Sudden Change in Symptoms (Part 2)
Tuesday was Day Five of my Grand Nicotine Experiment. And I felt damn good. I went to my usual Rock Steady Boxing session, and all the exercises we did seemed effortless. It was the best I’ve felt during a workout in years. Wednesday and Thursday … Continue reading Sudden Change in Symptoms
A week ago, I slightly increased my Pramipexole dosage, in the hope it would address the off periods I have been experiencing lately. While there has been some improvement, I’m still not where I want to be. The anxiety and depression have been reduced over the last week, but the physical exhaustion is still as bad as ever. Worse, a fresh dose of levodopa no longer reliably vanquishes the exhaustion. So my guess is that the new levodopa pump wouldn’t help me. It may be time to add yet another different drug to my daily routine. Or maybe I should stop carrying all this Kryptonite around with me.
Several weeks ago, I mentioned the possibility of my getting a Levodopa pump system “installed” on my person. I have since decided against the pump, despite the fact I never looked at the additional information I had requested. For me, it comes down to two things:
But, as I said in the previous pump post, something has to change. And now I think I know what that is. The reason I feel like something must be changed is not because of the physical fatigue I’ve been experiencing, or any of the motor symptoms. It’s because of the anxiety and depression that come with most of my Off Periods. When this has been the case in the past, it has been successfully countered by slightly increasing my Pramipexole dosage. So, I’m increasing it from 11 pills a day to 12. After a week or so, I’ll take stock of my situation and go from there.
As for the pump, it’s still a possibility down the road. But it’s not happening until I’m so far gone that someone else is in charge of my hygiene.
I maintain a list of topics, mostly related to Parkinson’s Disease (PD), that I use to keep track of what I’ve already posted about, and to store ideas for future posts. It’s a big list. Yesterday, I was talking with a fellow Rock Steady Boxer … Continue reading 5-HTP
It has been two weeks since I said I’d get back to you about one week after I stopped taking sublingual vitamin B12. I can honestly say that I am now ready to blame the B12 for the increases in anxiety and fatigue that I … Continue reading Vitamin B12 Results
Voyages with Parkinson's 