Hi all.

I'm a new member to Pscyhcentral Neurotalk but a 10 year parkie and a former poster to Braintalk. I would appreciate it if people who remember me from Braintalk (paula, lindylanka, jaye, etc) would identify themselves.

I stopped posting to Baintalk because I became very ill, as in mentally ill, sometime about three years ago. I was psychotic for eight months, and was a patient (i almost typed prisoner, because it was a lot like being in prison) in a state mental hospital in Independence, Iowa.

A year ago last January, a year and a half ago, I was started on a medication called Zyprexa. Within two days I became lucid. Within two months I returned to Iowa City, my home for most of the time since 1976.

At first I lived in a residental care facility, sort of a nursing home for psychiatric patients. After six months, in November of 2009, I was able to move into an apartment near the downtown, near the library, drug stores, and a grocery store. I am in the process of re-establishing indepent control of my finances. I volunteer three days a week at a Mennonite thrift and gift store, sorting and shelving used books. I meet with friends for coffe and lunch. I go to church and attend church activies.

I have two daughters, age 18 and 20. The 20 year-old lives in Iowa City and I see her two or three days a week, and also see my ex-husband, who also lives in Iowa City, a couple times a week.

It is impossible to overstate how ill I was. I was totally incompetent. Likewise, it is difficult to overstate the magnitude of my improvement. I am intersted in knowing if there are other Parkinson's patient with similar psychiatric issues. My neurologist, a senior faculty at a Big Ten institution, one of the biggest research and teaching hospitals in the country, said that my syndrome was "not rare". I thought he impled it was not common, but frankly I'm puzzled because I don't know of anyone with similar symptoms.

In addition to having been treated for psychosis, I also have had severe anxiety, now in remission, depression, which I am still taking medication for (Effexor has been pretty effective and free of side effects), and hypothyroidsm (which I take Synthroid for; I have never had symptoms of hypothyroidism).

My diagnosis is mood disorder not otherwise specified, psychosis not otherwise spcified, secondary to parkinson's disease.

I look forward to hearing from Braintalk veterans and anyone with a mental illness diagnosis in the aftermath of a parkinson's diagnosis.

Thanks, Barb
I also have dystonia in my feet unpredictably; it's very paimful and disabling and I would welcome suggestions about what people have found to be helpful. I rarly get it in the morning; I more often get it in the evening and it can sideline me for 45 minutes to an hour. It seems to be correlated with taking medication late or at irregular times, but I can do everything by the clock and still have problems. Are there any medications that people have found helpful?