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Parkinson’s and Cough and Colds Condition
In my 13 years life with Parkinson’s, I have noticed several instances that when I am having a common, simple condition of colds and cough, the PD symptoms like rigidity, gait freezing, cognitive difficulty increase significantly in their frequency and severity. The usual medicines (LD-CD, Amantadine, Rasagline, etc.) are also seen less effective with longer ‘off’ periods. Some medicines for treating the colds and cough condition also seen to clash with PD medicines causing restless hands and legs, general uneasiness, low appetite, etc. Hence when i visit a GP for cough and cold I show him all my PD specific medicines and ask him to take care of the potential interaction. When cough and colds conditions are cured, this impact of cough and colds also disappears. I would like to know if mine is a one-off case or is common for many PD patients.
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6 Replies
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Yes that happens to me too. At the moment I’ve had a fever on and off for the last two days. I’m feeling like I’m starting to get sick but not sure what it is yet – but my PD symptoms have increased and hit hard so I know there’s something going on.
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I just got over a bad sinus infection that required antibiotics. I tried generic mucinex and felt terrible. I had wicked brain fog, super fatigue, I was slow, and generally felt terrible. My general practitioner prescribed a cough syrup with codeine. I was reluctant to take it, but really happy I did. No brain fog, no slowness, no feeling weird. It did make me sleep, but I felt much better taking codeine than mucinex.
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I haven’t had a cold in the two years since diagnosis but I got diagnosed within months of getting COVID. Dr said the stress on the body from illness probably brought my symptoms forward. I have had my symptoms increase after getting over heated and after having surgery so I try to keep my emotional and physical stressors to a minimum.
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I noticed that any stress — physical or emotional — exacerbated the PD symptoms before I even had a diagnosis. I had just woken up from shoulder replacement surgery and realized that I had a tremor in my right foot and couldn’t wiggle my toes. I had already decided I had PD but held off on a diagnosis until after I got a new shoulder.
After living with shoulder pain for 25 years I was not going to let anything stand in the way of getting that fixed. A dozen years later the neurosurgeon who fixed my back explained that putting any metal in the body advances PD symptoms substantially. He did his work without the usual metal strap to hold things in place but the PD still advanced a great deal during the surgery. I went from six 25/100 Sinemet per day to 11.5 plus Amantadine to get the same control over my tremor. Because I track my symptoms, I can nail the change to the exact hour when I was on the table.
I don’t regret having the surgery; what I regret is what I did that led me to need the surgery.
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My husband has been having sinus congestion for 6 weeks. Sneezes and his head gets stopped up. Ears popping and stopped up off and on. Family doctor prescribed antibiotic for a sinus infection. He is getting very frustrated because he just can’t get rid of this. Taking plain mucinex , but we have tried other meds for sinus relief.
Can anyone offer advice. We have not seen an increase in his Parkinson’s symptoms during this, but could this be Parkinson’s related?-
Hi Julianne
My GP put me onto a saline nasal spray when I had difficulty with sinus congestion. It was a bit challenging at first as I hadn’t used anything like that before but I soon got the hang of it. I find that it gives good relief over time – it may take a few days before it really does it’s work, particularly if the congestion has built up over a few weeks. What I do get quick relief from is the sneezing – it seems to really help that! It’s not a prescription item but commonly available over the counter in pharmacies (that’s the case here in Australia at least). Do read the instructions- – it’s important to look at any pictures or diagrams. There is a bit of a technique to getting the best results.
Good luck to you both!
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