I think having a positive mental attitude is the key :deadhorse: ( just found the smillie list )

if you can't catch the kids, throw your sneaker at them, it worked for me :)

Is brain fog more tied into acetylcholine levels?
 

Thanks for starting this thread. I also like that "confusion on a higher level"; We need a forum slogan and that does nicely. I am thinking we need a t-shirt line as well. My other favorite, can't remember the source now is that we are not in early dementia but rather "organically confused". If I were to describe it in a tactile sense, I'd say it feels like my brain is wearing a wet, woolen sweater.

If sounds as if many experience brain fog as a PD symptom. For me, it happens when I suspend between feeling fully "on" and "off"when my meds do not kick right in.

The only time I have ever felt like the synapses were not all firing or that something was seriously awry in my cranium was when I had to rather quickly taper down meds due to pregnancy. Mind you, at that time my PD was very mild. I went downhill at an alarming rate. While I am not that bad now off meds; I never regained that lost ground. I am not sure if it was just a reaction to coming off meds too quickly? I do feel at some level it did permanent damage.

What bothers me is that I never felt any sort of bradykinesia of the brain before this time, so it has to have a drug connection. If it were only PD, I would have noticed a profound difference when I first started taking meds. Also, the intense fog I had at the time came on the heels of my last dose of Mirapex when I was at lowest point in dosage before stopping drugs altogether. If it was only due to PD, I would have felt brain fog when on Sinemet as monotherapy for five months, and it never happened then. Is there anyone else who has only taken Sinemet who can back me on this? The minute I let Mirapex back into my life, along came the weird head pressure sensation that would disappear after a dose of the agonist.

This leads me back to my soapbox on the uncertainty factor of the newer PD drugs. We really do not know what they are doing to our brain chemistry in the long term.

Krugen, you are having a really interesting, but consistent response to trying different herbals or 'natural' treatments. It's almost as if you sense the chemicals inducing the sensation they should be taking away? I wonder how much of this brain fog isn't dopamine, but acetylcholine receptors being toyed with? Are the herbals and coconut oil acting more as an anticholinergic? The only other time I read of a specific brain fog description beyond the agonists is from people who take the choline inhibitor Amantadine. I now take that drug and the first two days was knocked on my butt by the brain fog. I wonder if what you are trying isn't doing something similar? I think you mentioned that you were not on any PD specific meds just yet, right? Well, it is fascinating that something is setting off a "tilt" in your head but in a contrary way.

Laura

Laura, I don't know if this is helpful information or not. When I was on DA - Mirapex, it felt like I was on speed, energetic, I liked it a LOT. But it led me up the path of OCD - spending, spending, spending. At that time, it was not public knowledge that DA had this kind of side effect. Didn't hear it even from my MDS. One day I read it on line and the lightbulb came on:eek:

I was on amantadine for 2 years - didn't do anything for me so I quit taking it, never had a foggy brain from it either.
TG

Mirapex and I maxed out about a dozen credit cards and bought 2 new homes in 3 years. It was an exciting time, and I sure thought I was thinking clearly!

Requip, on the other hand gave me major brain fog and left me limp on the couch.

A mix of Sinemet and small dose of Mirapex is the closest thing I know to "normal" any more and I seem somewhat functional, even in I do find myself in the kitchen and wonder why I went there. (I always assume I meant to eat!) There is also a problem with finding the names of things and mixing up my words - Is this Parkinson's, meds, or age 63 at play here? Not to mention transposing letters when typing!

tnrsaposnig letetrs
 

[There is also a problem with finding the names of things and mixing up my words - Is this Parkinson's, meds, or age 63 at play here? Not to mention transposing letters when typing![/QUOTE]

Don't know wtah your taaaaaaaaaaaaaaalking aoubt

noJ

I had assumed that the 'fog' was to be a future unpleasant side effect of the meds, rather than caused by the PD itself.
As you say, I appear to be midpoint on a seesaw, and a slight tilt in either direction shows itself.
Back to the drawing board !

Confusion on a higher level.Ive become an expert at that.Brain fog,my thoughts are clear as mud to most but me.Parkinsons has given me a completley new understanding of the strength and power of the mind,its a chemical cauldren,without medication,then hubble bubble your in trouble.I recommend an overdose of humour injected intravenously .I went to a pop concert recently got high on cannabis,other peoples all I did was breathe

crash course on humour
 

Getting a "high" on 2nd hand smoke puts you level on the playing field. As for IV humour - this morning I delivered a bunch of "stuff" tro a thrift store. I was carrying a big box of glass stemware, don't know what I did, but I went crashing against a barrel and to the floor, still holding my box up, upright with nary a glass broken. I would have loved to have seen a video of myself as the crash must have been pretty spectacular, by the looks on the faces of the volunteers. ROTFLOL

TG