Thought I'd start this thread with a catchy little title.

I cannot walk (at least thats what I believe) when I am unmedicated. My legs shake like crazy with little provocation, and early on in the game, I figured two things out. A) that getting up at night to go to the bathroom was a bad experience and B) I have been able to train myself not to have to go potty between bedtime 11:00 pm and wakeup -7 am. I had some bad experiences in the early days, making a one way trip (sometimes getting stranded on the proverbial throne), and so I never get up at night to go to the bathroom anymore. On the rare occasion I do drink too much water or whatever before I go to bed, I have to take a sinemet, and wait. just as a sidenote I'll mention my sinemet in the morning kicks in exactly 32 minutes after I have taken it. At least thats when the first rumblings of my leg tremors start. If I bolt out of bed before it gets a hold on me, I'm usually fine.
I often make my trip to the potty and then return to my bed picking up my sudoku or crossword. The one crushed 25/100 wakes me up completely but has a life of about 20-30 minutes after "on" set. If I have trouble going back to sleep, a spoonful of peanut butter will put me out.

I'm just curious how some of the rest of you deal with this little plague that disrupts our sleep. Men in particular can be like Jack-in-the box at night.
Anyone want to share?

hello dear rosebud,
marked it with (P) yet no politics here...
I have had to be cathorized as a child, & I did not have PD?
you cant relax muscles too tight -you may need to learn to breathe
(I have a tendency to hold my breath) ???
I will pray for youu - dear one,

PS?
do you take all your meds at the same time?

when you can't walk, you crawl. Luckily I got a DBS before my knees gave out.
There is a urinal that works well for us guys. I'd assume there is a similar device for the ladies?

Tena, I'd think that a cath would be difficult to use on a regular basis??



Charlie

and others when i sleep through. i think mine is diet related and suspect a grain connection.

If I have a beer after 5-00pm, I have to go every 2 hours through the night. If I avoid any liquid after 5-00pm, I can on rare occassions go right through the night without getting up. One strange thing, if you need to go during the night, hang in there and stay in bed and the urge goes after about5 minutes! However, don't try it a second time!
What about during the day. I have to go about every 2 hours. My neuro is arranging for me to see a urologist. I say it is simply low muscle control due to PD. What do you others find is your daytime regularity?
Ron

I can go 3 to 5 hours easily now, but have had periods in the past when quite the opposite was true for no clear reason.

dear charlie,
I was emphasizing breathing NOT being cathorized...
we are addicted to our meds, and more meds will make us sick -
we all have our own belief system, and whatever a person believes is truth to them -
you believe in your choice of DBS,
I believe the body has the ability to heal, and I believe more in God than
meds or surgery because, I have always prayed God would make my meds work, or that God can just heal me...
I have two great emotions that I believe cause illness -
1. ANGER
2. FEAR
__________

TO SUMMARIZE
what ever we believe in will help us, thus the constant use of placebo effect
checking from the clinical trials...
I have only been cathorized during surgery and once as a child which was not successful because of the size of the cath -
alot of women hold their breath, it is not a good thing.
so breathing is the most important thing for all of us...

Rosebud is experiencing difficulty urinating, NOT incontinance...
I am thinking you (men) have a different type of experience with your
male parts
all I have found online so far is this -
Why is not being able to urinate an emergency?
First of all, a really full bladder can be quite painful. Aside from the pain, when the bladder can hold no more urine, the fluid backs up into the kidneys, which can cause damage if the pressure is not relieved quickly. In extreme cases, the bladder can actually rupture when it can hold no more urine.
Symptoms of Acute Urinary Retention

A noticeably full bladder, may be visible as abdominal swelling in thin people

The discomfort or pain of a full bladder

Inability to urinate, despite feeling the urge
Causes of Urinary Retention After Surgery
The inability to urinate after surgery is usually caused by a condition called neurogenic bladder, a type of bladder dysfunction that interferes with the nerve impulses from the brain to the bladder. The bladder does not receive the signal to empty, and will continue to fill despite any pain or trauma that may occur.

For patients with no history of difficulty urinating prior to surgery, the problem is often attributed to a combination of risk factors that include abdominal surgery, general anesthesia, pain medications and fluids given by IV during surgery.

In rare circumstances, a surgical error, such as accidentally severing one of the tubes that transport urine, may be causing the problem. This complication is very rare and is typically detected prior to leaving the hospital.

I can pee, it just takes some time to get going...
A less serious form of urinary retention that can happen after surgery can cause a delay in getting started urinating, or it may feel as though the bladder is still full after a successful trip to the bathroom. This is not an emergency, but it should be discussed with your surgeon, especially if it persists.

What if this keeps happening, peeing is important right?
Patients who experience urinary retention may be instructed in methods to self-catheterize by medical staff, so the bladder can be drained as needed should the problem occur repeatedly. The condition will typically pass within two weeks of surgery. If it persists beyond the recovery phase, your surgeon or family physician may order tests to determine what is causing the problem and the best course of treatment.

Additional Causes of Urinary Retention:

Prostate Enlargement -- Can cause chronic urinary retention because the enlarged prostate interferes with the the movement of urine from the bladder to the outside of the body.

“Droopy” bladder -– The bladder may slip lower into abdomen (most commonly in women who have had multiple children) creating problems with the movement of urine from the bladder to the outside of the body.

Anti-anxiety medications

Nerve Damage to bladder due to surgery, trauma, childbirth

Antidepressant medications

Anticholinergic medications-commonly used for overactive bladder

Antihistamine medications

Spinal cord injuries and defects

Blockage of the urethra, the tube that removes urine from the bladder, by blockage or compression such as bladder stones or constipation.
More About Surgery: Answers To Common Questions After Surgery

http://surgery.about.com/od/question...UrinatePee.htm

Your catchy title caught my eye, Rosebud! This has become a MAJOR dilemma with me, but strangely it doesn't happen every time. What I'm saying is some nights and mornings I can putter around (definitely not a sprint!) enough to get to my morning meds and to take care of Mother Nature's "call to the Royal throne."

Since this on/off time is unpredictable, I always do this before retiring:
1) go to the potty (more than you want to know)
2) set water (in a sippy cup with a straw) and my morning meds by my bed
3) make sure I have on clothing easy to manipulate, and
4) get as close to the throne as possible!

I get up at least 2 times every night - sometimes as many as 4-5 times. It has nothing to do with what I drink after 5:00, but has everythingn to do with PD. I have been told after a full urological workup that I have a Neurogenic bladder*. This means My bladder muscles do not sense when I am done or when I need to go (Until I stand up! Then look out!) Add sciatica and lower back problems and you're nearly forced to use those products we think are reserved for infants and babies only.

* I have to tell you this little funny aside. When I visited my neurologist after my bladder workup, I was telling him what the urologists said. Now my neurologists rarely smiles, but I put him in the floor telling him that I was told I had a "Neurotic" bladder! When I realized what I had said, I joined him in the floor.

Anyway, back to the story. Even after doing all of those four preparatory thiings, it is quite comical how I go about this call to nature that others take so for granted. You approach the throne facing it. Now if you're a guy, you have it made. You just do your thing. But the lowly female must turn around and maintain a "sitting" position in order to do her thing! To do a 180 degree turn, I take the tiniest baby steps in a circular motion, fearing falling all the while. Then there's the problem with getting the toilet paper, which is inconveniently mounted onn the wall behind me (I'm going to get one of those toilet paper stands one day). Anyway, if this routine were available for show, I'm certain it would win the top prize in Ameriica's Funniest Home Videos!

But alas, you will have to wait to see your own video - and trust me - it isn't funny!
Peg

Hi Rosebud,
If I was a fella my guess and I think most peoples would be that I have in recent years developed some form of a prostate problem!
Seeing as I'm not a bloke I can cross that off my list of potential problems!
I find when I void at night in particular it's slow and I find I have to take my time or it's incomplete.
I've been told it's often a problem in PWP especially when our bodies are lower on levodopa and therefore slower which makes sense.
Lee