No I 'm glad to get more articles and this one is excellent Laura, lots of facts that we need be clear about. i don't think any doctor knows me well enough to label me cognitively or psychologically according to any rating scales.

Seems like a personal assault in a way.

paula

....I realize the neuropsychiatrist was trying to help me find a balance that would work for me. This is what they do, psychiatrists. Our disordered disorder falls directly into the chasm that separates neurology and psychiatry. The educated PD patient sooner or later gives up the notion that psychiatry is about head-shrinking or personality adjustment. Psychiatry is about the chemicals in the disease-damaged brain and what can be done to make life more tolerable for the owner of said brain.

That's why I see both a neurologist and a psychiatrist. Unfortunately, my experiences have altered my view of neurologists, who can display shocking ignorance of what psychiatrists do, and who can seem to me to believe that psychiatrists are for crazy people, which can lead to ridiculuous assumptions about their PD patients. Oh well, nobody knows everything.

Here's some interesting stuff for you, Paula, that I found lying around some dusty corridors in the back of my laptop. Please consider it advice from the authors of the papers. (Dementia is a psychotic symptom.)

Cognitive deficits and psychosis in Parkinson's disease: a review of pathophysiology and therapeutic options.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16734499

Psychosis in Parkinson's Disease.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15043801
This abstract ends with:
For what it's worth.

Getting enough sleep matters, too. To bed I go.

Jaye

You stated this so eloquently! It even bears repeating here:
( quote by Jaye )
Our disordered disorder falls directly into the chasm that separates neurology and psychiatry. The educated PD patient sooner or later gives up the notion that psychiatry is about head-shrinking or personality adjustment. Psychiatry is about the chemicals in the disease-damaged brain and what can be done to make life more tolerable for the owner of said brain.


It's all about "quality of life," isn't it?

Peg

(cough) that part was written by me. Quoted part is in that funny little box. But the way I feel this morning, I don't know how I wrote a sentence.

So I edited my post (took the "d" off "quoted." You did a better job than the guy who wrote the referenced article!


Peg

Just reviewing these posts in trying to warn some PD newbies who are being prescribed Aricept with abandon...

I wonder whether these differences reflect subtypes? For example, those whose cholinergic transmitters have been hit harder end up with presenting more with Postural Gait traits as predominant early on?

Thanks for these great studies, Zucchini Flower.

Laura

I am just reading this thread now. I use an Exelon patch and have been pleased with the results. It has definitely helped me. I don't know if it is similar to Aricept or not. Anyway, I recently relocated to Florida. My new neuro is questioning whether or not I should have had Exelon prescribed for me. I intend to give her evidence of how it has helped me at my next visit.

It's good to hear from you again, Chicory.
It sounds like you plan to convince your new neuro that you should keep the Excelon. I'm pleased that you are pleased with the results!
We are, as often stated here, after all the best judge of what works for each of us.
Robert

I agree that if it's not broken, don't fix it. So we with normal cholinergic activity [good study?] are a subgroup. ok no surprise there and it's always good to know it works for some,. Now i think they should add it to the list of must haves on our medical charts. And be vigilant. This is one to watch out for- yourself .

This article isn't much but it lists the "main symptoms". Here's the way they put it:

"The main symptoms of Parkinson’s include memory loss, decrease of cognitive skills, dementia. As it is a disorder of the central nervous system, motor skills are lost over time. These Parkinson’s disease patch medicines help in prolonging normal activity and suppressing the symptoms of the disease.

The main symptoms of this disease include stiffness and tremors in the limbs which is due to the reduction of Dopamine, chemical in the brain which controls movement in the body. Dopamine agonists clone dopamine and also stimulate the cells of the brain, just the way the normal chemical reacts. "

How correct is it to list dementia as a main symptom?

http://parkinsonssymptoms.org/parkin...isease-patches

paula