Hello everyone, my neurologist wants me to start the medication Trihexyphenidyl 2mg three times a day. Before I can start taking it I have to see the ophthalmologist. I am just curious if weird side effects are common with this medication and how bad these side effects are. Has anyone had any really good results from being on this medication? As of now I am also on l-dopamine, Celebrex, midodrine, and Bentyl. I feel like my neurologist is leaning towards a diagnosis of PD but does not have enough definitive proof yet. The l-dopa helped a bit and I'm hoping this one does too but I just want some info in it. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

I would like to add here...

I don't see a distinct diagnosis is PD from this new poster's
first posts.

Please help her if you can!

Hi Samantha, It is late in my day, well almost morning really, over here in the UK, so haven't read your other posts, only looked at the headers. I do not know about the medication you are asking about, but wonder whether your neurologist is a movement disorder specialist, if not I would suggest finding one if your current neurologist is veering towards a PD diagnosis. You are very young and I guess that few doctors would want to give you a quick diagnosis, but will rather watch your progress on medication and see how you do. This can be frustrating. There is a type of scan called a PET scan which can confirm PD, it is reputed to have a 94% success rate. You already seem to be on quite a mix of medication......Have replied really to keep your post at the top of the heap, and to show a little solidarity! Wish I could say more, perhaps you could tell us a little bit more about how you arrived at this point, and your response to l-dopa.

Someone a bit more knowledgeable will come along and post about trihexiphenidyl i should think.

Stick with finding out more about things, whatever it is you have the way forward is to be well informed.

Lindy

Thank you! As of the moment my neurologist is at the NYU Hospital for joint disease, I have had at least three or four before her. I am confident that she has an idea of what is going on, but as you said because of my age is not ready to jump to any conclusions. I will be sure to ask about having a PET Scan done as it probably one of the only scans that I have not had. As for arriving at this point here it goes: About three years ago I started having a constant headache located on the right hand side of the head near the temple area, I went to the neurologist in South Florida and they tried different medications (Topamax, Ametryptiline), in short they didn't help. A few months later I developed pain all over and a small tremor in the right hand I was hospitalized, nothing came of it. Then I had a few fainting spells so I went to the cardiologist and they did a tilt table test and said that I have neuroly-mediated hypotension. I was put on midodrine and now that is under control. About six months later I started having upper abdomen pain on the right hand side, it turns out my gallbladder is only funcitoning at about 12% and I have biliary dsykenisa (for this I was put on bentyl, which has been working great up until recently). A about four months after this I experienced paralysis in the right with a dropped foot, and dystonia in the right hand with bad tremors. I was hospitalized again and had an EMG test which came back normal. After going through intensive physical therapy I regained almost full function of my leg, however the hand did not improve. This repeated once more, which is when my mom found the neurologist at NYU. The l-dopa has been a miracle, although my symptoms still give me a great deal of trouble I can open my hand again, the headaches have lessened a bit, and it has improved my gait. The tremors are still there and debilitating, but it is an improvement! I also experience fatigue, nausea, memory loss, and insomnia. For a while they thought it was chronic lymes disease (I had this when I was five years old) but after seeing a specialist and a serious of intense antibiotics it was ruled out.

Again thank you for responding to my post I appreciate it. Sorry for the long post

Trihexyphenidyl is the generic name for the brand name Artane. Follow this link for information about Trihexyphenidyl.

http://www.answers.com/topic/trihexyphenidyl

Wow, thank you apparently the web site you sent me says that the new med interacts with both the Bentyl and the l-dopa I am so happy I posted about this. I cant believe my neurologist prescribed this medication, she was also the one who prescribed the l-dopa.

Hi Samantha,
I have been taking this for about 6 months. It is early days yet but I don't yet see much improvement, but i also don't see any side effects. I am taking 2 mg per day.
An interesting point is while trihexyphenidyl is aproved for females, it is not approved for males!!
Ron

I am sorry to here that the Trihexyphenidyl isn't doing but much to help you. With interactions between meds do you think that the neurologist just didn't check or that she believes the benefits out weigh the risks, I want to take the medication if there is a chance of making me feel better, but not if there are crazy risks involved. I am going to call her today.... Interesting note about the med being approved for women and not men, I never knew that. Thank you again

This is an explanation of the interaction.

http://www.drugs.com/interactions-ch...56-0,2245-4717

Going further in that site is a list of all interactions possible with Artane. You have to click on the drug name to
move to the list.

Also more on this drug here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trihexyphenidyl

and:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/d...s/a682160.html

This link reveals the FDA reported Medwatch results for Artane:
http://www.drugcite.com/?q=artane

You can click on the individual items on the list for more details.

Also, I searched your midodrine on Drugcite.com with these results:
http://www.drugcite.com/?q=ProAmatine

If you click on movement disorders, it will detail them, and they sound similar to your descriptions.
You should know that midodrine has been on a list at the FDA for discontinuance, for a long time. And it was actually terminated recently, and only reinstated when some doctors complained. If you have POTs... there are other treatments besides this drug for that. It is something to consider.
Only a very small fraction of adverse events make it to the FDA...so when one sees small numbers, that doesn't mean in reality that the reported issue is infrequent. It only means the doctor or hospital did not report. Many doctors do not report for liability reasons, thinking it strengthens evidence for a law suit.