Dad recently diagnosed
 

My Dad has been diagnosed for approx 3 months. He's only been on 1 med for approx 2 months. His depression and disease had several years to get established/entrenched before I stepped in and took over and moved him to my city...

I'm pretty discouraged because he used to hike the grand canyon and now has zero interest in performing any exercises at home nor does he see the benefit of them since he is aware this disease 'progresses'. He is in phys therapy and has improved slightly, however. He's not taking his meds with 100% consistancy and makes little effort to groom himself. I cannot babysit him 'enough' to check his med ritual and enforce exercising and that is frustrating.

We are still learning about PD and I still know little about it (still researching) but it would be so much more encouraging if he would/could show more interest in helping himself/helping me help him... He's just a shell of his former self. I think we still need to find more/better antidepressant meds (he's on paroxitine) and reevaluate the med he is one for PD (ropinirole) - tho I know it is still early to complete results.

I'm happy to have found this forum and hope to be able to contribute at some point after absorbing as much as I can.... -jenna

Get out those hiking boots.
 

Jenna,

Welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear of your dad's diagnosis, but you have easily stumbled upon the best place on the Internet with a proactive and intelligent group that will get you up to speed in no time.

First, depression and anxiety go hand in hand with PD. Sometimes it is even an early, early symptom that nags at a person before they notice anything even close to a tremor or a foot drag. Compound that "natural" state of affairs with a diagnosis that tells you have neurodegenerative disease that will progress and there's nothing to stop it, well, you can see why he's bummed.

I don't know much about taking antidepressants with PD other than to watch closely as some may work better than others; especially considering our neurotransmitters are not quite up to snuff anymore. Your dad may have to try another if this doesn't do the trick, and I know that others with PD do take newer anti-depressants that are in the NDRI class which work on enhancing dopamine transport because in essence that is what we lose the most of. I think Wellbutrin falls into that family; of course, best to always ask the doctor for their recommendation.

Please try to convince him that it is imperative he move! It may be the one thing he can do to slow progression of this disease!! If this doesn't get him into his hiking boots, I don't know what will. Research and anecdotes from many patients look promising...see the "Pedaling for Parkinson's" thread below for more on this research. He does not have to limit himself to pedaling; some PD people continue to run marathons while others take gentler approaches like tai chi. I think there are even studies that show the Wii helps! Please stress that he can still influence the course of this disease and take charge by exercising. I would start by showing him the research and printing off some stories on very active PD people, some who have lived with this over 20 years, and I am hoping that he will feel encouraged enough to try. See http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/...benefits_x.htm

One thing we do know is that stress makes our symptoms worse and some feel that keeping our emotions all bottled up led us here in the first place. Exercise is a key way to ward off stress.

Have him start up slowly and maybe offer to go on a gentle hike with him... may not be able to hike the Grand Canyon right away, but I bet his will note that his stamina comes back, so you never know... Maintaining a positive attitude is key.

Hope this helps!

Laura

Dear Jenna,

You say "I think we still need to find more/better antidepressant meds (he's on paroxitine) and reevaluate the med he is one for PD (ropinirole) - tho I know it is still early to complete results."

I would suggest you concentrate on getting the PD medication right. Once that is done, he may not need antidepressants. If he's still miserable after two months of Ropinerol, he needs something more.

Regards, Peter.

most of us need levodopa
 

our poor levodopa deprived brains need it.
I started back on it to help my frozen shoulder syndrome and after a couple of days I can report improvement.
I would ask his MDS about a trial of sinemet. I would also take him hiking as he no longer has the incentive to do it on his own. He could be avoiding it because he is nervous about going alone.
Be aware that it takes about 3 weeks before anti-depressants to make a noticeable difference/ Also not all work on PD'ers, so you may need to try sevral different ones to find one that works. it takes a while to find a efficacious med protocol for him, but don't give up!!!
hope this helps

Charlie

When I first started carbi-levodopa on my Dx trial
 

after trying several other anti-depressants including paroxitine, I found the PD med to be the most effective anti-depressant of all! I had suffered with serious depression for at least 15 years prior to parkinsons diagnosis in '01. I contiue to use ADs, but think that good old Sinemet is the best one for me.