Sometimes it makes me question about how doctors form theories; I wonder if they misplaced "Common Sense" in the quest for the cure?

Along with many other creatures.
The neuroscientists have not spent time on this for nothing.
There IS an ebb and flow of chemistry going on in the brain and the rhythms are there to regulate us.

PD is a condition of dysregulation as well as disorder.

Sleep disruption was one of my first major symptoms, or at least the one of the first that really concerned me.

I don't think it is that off the wall, and I think that the scientists are right to see as creatures who have a lot in common with each other.....

My take...

Lindy


New Regulator of Circadian Clock Identified: Dopamine Study May Have Impact on Activity and Sleep Rhythms in Parkinson's Disease

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1020111219.htm

Interactions between Dopamine and Melatonin Organize Circadian Rhythmicity in the Retina of the Green Iguana

http://jbr.sagepub.com/content/22/6/515.abstract

Dopamine Mediates Circadian Rhythms of Rod-Cone Dominance in the Japanese Quail Retina

http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/short/19/10/4132

Circadian rhythms of dopamine, glutamate and GABA in the striatum and nucleus accumbens of the awake rat: modulation by light.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15009508

The earth is 70% water: the ebb and flow of the tides are controlled by the effects of the moon upon this planet. Knowing that our bodies are 70% water as well, why can we not realize that there are "Cycles" in our lives as well? High tide produces one affect and low tide something else; is it so hard to make a connection between these facts? I wonder............

http://circadiana.blogspot.com/

Take a look at this one. -Rick

My point is that we have evolved to be in tune with these things, why else would something like a flight around the world give us jet-lag. And our brain chemistry and body chemistry reflects this. But as PwP we are very disordered, we get things like orthstatic hypotension, poor sleep patterns, otherwise sometimes known as raging insomnia .

I remember pre - ldopa - what it felt like.

I was editing video immediately prior to dx, anyone who has done this on any scale knows the frame by frame meticulousness that is required. I could go THREE days without sleep and retain focus... but physically I was falling apart.
Whatever chemicals normally tell people to stop were not working for me. That part of the chemistry did work until I went onto sinemet. And the first thing I did was sleep, anywhere and everywhere, across my keyboards, in my chair. The relief was amazing. A friend diagnosed the same month as me and with similar symptoms was falling asleep at the wheel..... he took a break from driving. Sleep was an issue for lots of PwP......

The thing is a NORMAL brain has these ebbs and flows. But we have PD brains. I don't think we can expect to compare the two or go back to what we were. We try to bridge the gaps. I still stay awake longer than I should, my sleep hygiene stinks! We don't need no dopa at night, but we need less. I am convinced of this......

Lindy

Yes, Rick. I will check it out tomorrow: finally SLEEPY before 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning so I am off to take advantage if at all possible. G'night all.

Definitely need dopamine at night for me!!

All these musings got my Irish up. WTF? Why is it that something as basic as sleep deprivation's effect on PWP is so mysterious that it sends all of us into a wild goose chase for data. "Sleep hygiene." Oy vey. We're doomed. Or at least I am.

Listen, I got fewer than a dozen nights of uninterrupted sleep in the first 5 years of motherhood (2000-2005; I stopped counting after that). I suspect that sleep dysregulation was a hallmark of emerging PD. I suspect it also hastened the onset of my PD (though that was possibly mitigated by the estrogen flooding). The present decade has seen no more than 3 full night of uninterrupted sleep. Like many of you I wake up at 3:30 (if I've gone to sleep at all). I am in pain and Bob Dawson's description of trying myriad different positions is spot on. If I could slither out of my body like a snake shedding her skin I would. But then again, that would take energy, and I'm fresh out.

Of course it's also quiet (except for my snoring family) at that hour. When my three guys take a break from what is surely a sign of existent or impending neurotrouncing sleep apnea, it's really quiet. I love that. Once I am upright and the pain subsides a bit, I feel most myself, mostly because nothing is required of me (no stressors) and my senses are not overloaded by other people's activities and concerns. I am calm and, if I've slept, clear-headed. I can write coherently. My tremor is quiet. My laptop warms me like some cats warm their companion humans. All is right in the world.

Of course, I pay the price the next day for this little island of peace.

And I am 99.44% certain that these habits will hasten my death. Sigh. (BTW, did anyone notice that the Scripps' research release described PD as "fatal." I thought PD's just supposed to make us wish we were dead…? But I digress.)

My friend, who also has PD, just did an overnight sleep study and learned that she stops breathing on average 5 times/hour. She was told that this robs her muscles of oxygen and that is why she awakens in pain. She was told that this also robs her of restorative sleep, which affects memory. This cost her thousands of dollars. She is immensely wealthy so having no insurance is not an impediment, as it is for me. She's got strategies now. I'll report on what they are if anyone is interested.

So I'm pretty sure we would all benefit from a sleep study and could probably find a couple of interventions that would be effective. (I love the acupuncture implants, Fiona, thanks! Maybe that's what Lady Gaga has.) But, you know, on the other hand, I am getting more than a little bored trying to analyze, manage and control every bleeping detail of my life. God, it is so damn dull.

Anyway, I am glad you brought up this relevant, useful topic, Rick. Really. I'm just cranky today. And maybe a wee bit tired.