Monday, June 16, 2008

When are the days of medication wearing off and on?

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 4:40 am Post subject: When are the days of medication wearing off and on?

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As PD is on " not going disease' i.e. a slow progression and is different from other disease i.e a self -limited sickness or injury that temporarily impact their lives as inconvenience or comfort

When are the days of PD medicine wearing off and on ?



What are the symptons wearing on or off on the PD medicine on the patients
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Dr. Fernandez



Joined: 20 Jan 2007
Posts: 90

Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 1:37 pm Post subject:

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You are correct that PD is not a "static" illness. It is a slowly progressive illness and gradually gets worse over time. We are try our best to find a drug that will slow the disease progression...and we are optimistic!

I am not sure what you mean by "when are the days of PD medicine wearing on and off"?

As the disease progresses, the "therapeutic window" for which the medications work on narrows slowly, so the same dose and timing of medications that used to control the symptoms of PD may not give the same long lasting benefit. That is what we mean when we say "wearing off"---the meds don't last the same way the used to and the doses are no longer connecting.

On and off are terms we use to describe the patients parkinson state. When ON, the patient generally feels good--s/he is less stiff, less slow, and tremors are lesser or absent. Wen OFF, the patient does not feel the effect of the medications and s/he has worse tremors, or stiffer, or slower with increased freezing. Sometimes the off spell is manifested by non-motor symptoms such as slower thinking, fatigue or increased depression, anxiety and panic attacks, which all get better or disappear when the patient is ON.

I hope this explanation helps somewhat.

Yours,
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Hubert H. Fernandez

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