My dad seems to lack enjoyment, pleasure and interest in many things. Is this a symptom of PD. Has anything been shown to help? Thanks,

Its called Anhedonia

My experience is that it is partially related to my dopamine levels. I am better when I have adequate medication but it is in the background even then. There hasnt been alot of research but i understand it can be connected with depression but not necessarily.


"Anhedonia is defined by a lowered ability to experience pleasure. It is recognized to be a core symptom of major depression, and approximately 30%–40% of subjects with Parkinson’s disease (PD) have significant depression.1 However, independently of the occurrence of depression in PD patients, anhedonia can be considered to be a specific mood disorder explained by dysfunction of the dopamine reward pathway secondary to the degenerative processes observed in PD, notably in the mesolimbic area."
http://neuro.psychiatryonline.org/ar...icleID=1476853

I put it down to the dopamine agonist, in my case Pramipexole.

Neil.

Interesting, if you don't mind me asking do you think it was separate from depression and did it go away when the agonist was stopped?

Here is another article http://www.movementdisorders.org/Use...pathyscale.pdf

I have been through that..Two years after dx, my world came crashing down around me..I was a commercial fishermen most of my life..I had to sell my 47' boat for a song just to get rid of it..I was on SSDI, and I had to figure out how I was going to pay the bills?..How I was going to do alot of things?..It was like my life was in free fall, and I had no control over anything..I had, had pd for four years back then..I thought my life was over..But there was one spark of hope..I can still hear the echo.."Don't worry..They will have a cure in five years"

I have had pd for 11 years now..Im not 49 anymore..I turned 60 this past July

Looking back, all those bills got paid..Five years has come and gone every year..Still no cure..Lots of smoke, but no fire..I can't do some things anymore or as well as I could before, but there are alot of things I still can do..I learned to be grateful for the things I can do, instead of dwelling on the things that I cant do..I can still drive, on or off..I still fish part time out of a 20' boat..Never dreamed I'd still be able to do that..I don't look for hope in a cure anymore, because I dont know if, or when there will ever be one in my lifetime..I try not to get into the politics of that, but sometimes it's hard not to..I'll leave it at that...I try to the best of my ability to live in the here and now, and play the hand I wake up with every morning..Sometimes I don't do that very well..Sometimes I get angry and frustrated, but I have to try real hard not to feel hopeless, cuz I will be, if I go into that dark place in my mind..For me, whatever I feel emotionally, manifests itself physically..I dont know what the future will bring, but I take it one day at a time..That's alot easier to deal with

A few Wellbutrins and a few Neurontins helps too

sorry for the delay in response.

I have never stopped taking the dop ags so I do not know if it will go away if they are halted. Gut feeling is that the "smoothing" (losing all your highs and lows, (sounds like a song in there)) will go if the dop ags go.

I was told Pramipexole was an anti depressant so this sort of result is not unexpected, the smoothing does not feel like a form of depression however I am no expert on what is or is not depression.

Take care,
Neil.

Mmm Im not sure that the smoothing, loss of highs and lows, is quite the same as lack of pleasure, maybe it is.
Agonists dont smooth things for me but add to my highs and lows as I'm on ropinerole, short acting. I have bouts of apathy and loss of interest very much connected to low dopamine levels (wearing off of meds, Ropinerole and Madopar)

I wasnt aware before that primapexole was used in depression so thanks for that. In trying to find out more i came across this, a little off subject but see especially the last paragraph.

Dopaminergic modulation of memory and affective processing in Parkinson depression
Psychiatry Research
Volume 210, Issue 1, 30 November 2013, Pages 146–149


Abstract
Depression is common in Parkinson's disease ....... Dopaminergic medications are effective in treating the motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease; however, little is known regarding the effects of dopaminergic pharmacotherapy on cognitive function in depressed Parkinson patients. This study examines the neuropsychological effects of dopaminergic pharmacotherapy in Parkinsonian depression......... A total of 28 .... patients with mild to moderate idiopathic Parkinson's disease participated. Ten of these patients were depressed according to DSM IV criteria.

Results revealed a statistically significant interaction between depression and medication status on three measures of verbal memory and a facial affect naming task. In all cases, depressed Parkinson's patients performed significantly more poorly while on dopaminergic medication than while off. The opposite pattern emerged for the non-depressed Parkinson's group. The administration of dopaminergic medication to depressed Parkinson patients may carry unintended risks.