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James Harvey replied to the topic Apathy in the forum Parkinson's Disease Symptoms 10 months, 2 weeks ago
My apathy was made worse by insomnia. Recently I started a CBT-I program (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy -Insomnia) for insomnia that seems to be working. It has given me a sense of control over the insomnia and about 4 extra hours of free time each day.
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James Harvey replied to the topic Constipation Treatments in the forum Living With Parkinson's Disease 10 months, 2 weeks ago
For about 3 months I had mild, intermittent abdominal pain and no appetite for an evening meal. Eventually the abdominal pain increased to the point that I went to an ED and, after an abdominal CT, was diagnosed with constipation. I had been taking oxybutynin (oxy) to calm my urinary bladder to decrease nocturia and apparently the oxy was c…[Read more]
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James Harvey replied to the topic What is PD? How can it be a "disease" if there is no pathogen? in the forum Diagnosis Information and General Questions 10 months, 3 weeks ago
Two books I have found useful are: 1. “A Parkinson’s Primer” by John Vine (basic overview) and 2. “The New Parkinson’s Disease Treatment Book” (published 2015) by Dr. J. Eric Ahlskog a researcher and clinician at Mayo Clinic. The second book has an extensive index so you can read just a few pages related to a specific subject.
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James Harvey replied to the topic Your Amantadine Experience? in the forum Parkinson's Disease alternative treatments 11 months, 1 week ago
My experience (male, 73) may not be relevant to your situation but when I went to a full dose (100 mg tablet, 2x per day) I had severe urinary retention, especially at night. I was able to tolerate 1x per day OK.
A general suggestion — I find it useful to keep a written log of my adverse effects to meds because after a few years I may forget…[Read more]
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James Harvey replied to the topic ANXIETY in the forum Using our forums 11 months, 3 weeks ago
You mentioned that RLS was one problem. I don’t know if what I have is RLS or not but sometimes when I’m lying in bed awake one or both legs will “vibrate” (i.e., a motor nerve seems to fire a few times in the upper leg which causes the whole leg to shake) for a few seconds. This occurs about every 3 to 5 minutes. I moved my ropinirole dose to…[Read more]
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James Harvey replied to the topic Parkinon's impact on sleep and dreaming in the forum Parkinson's Disease Symptoms 1 year ago
In my post of 10-29-19 I indicated that gabapentin was helping me sleep. Indeed it did help for a few weeks but then in became ineffective even when the dose was increased to 500 mg. During the period of tapering off the drug my insomnia was worse than normal.
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James Harvey replied to the topic Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) in the forum Parkinson's Disease Symptoms 1 year ago
I have what I think of as “vibrating legs,” i.e., the motor nerves seem to trigger creating a brief vibration of one (either) leg. It sometimes happens every 5 or 10 minutes when I’m lying in bed trying to sleep. I do not have a sense of some RLS symptoms I have read about, i.e., a feeling that I need to move my legs or a sense of something c…[Read more]
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James Harvey replied to the topic Cannabis and Parkinson's in the forum Parkinson's Disease alternative treatments 1 year ago
I would mostly be interested in trying CBD to aid insomnia. Does anyone have experience with this? Do people develop a tolerance for CBD and hence need to increase the dose?
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James Harvey replied to the topic Memory Issues in the forum Parkinson's Disease Symptoms 1 year ago
Thanks for the heads-up. One more thing to be watching for. I do have momentary lapses, such as directions when going somewhere or the correct orientation of the key to the front door.
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James Harvey replied to the topic Apathy in the forum Parkinson's Disease Symptoms 1 year, 1 month ago
A respondent asked if the gabapentin was effective in aiding sleep. This is a work in progress. I started with 300 mg and for the first week or so it did seem to help with getting back to sleep after waking up during the night (nocturia). I tried stopping the gabapentin when it no longer seemed to be helping and the insomnia got worse. So I st…[Read more]
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James Harvey replied to the topic Apathy in the forum Parkinson's Disease Symptoms 1 year, 1 month ago
A PD patient in a MJFox Webinar about fatigue notes the close connection between fatigue and apathy. For me it seems to be fatigue more than apathy most of the time. And fatigue is aggravated by insomnia. I am currently trying gabapentin to help with sleep. Of course sleep without drugs is better but if there is no or minimal drug overhang the…[Read more]
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James Harvey replied to the topic What PD symptom impacts your quality of life most? in the forum Parkinson's Disease Symptoms 1 year, 2 months ago
Fatigue and insomnia are my major problems. For insomnia, I installed blackout blinds so I could sleep in the morning. Also, I have recently tried eliminating caffeine (e.g., chocolate) after 3 pm and having a schedule of events leading up to being in bed by 11 pm. My schedule is 4pm home exercises, 6pm dinner, 8pm aerobic exercise (t…[Read more]
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James Harvey replied to the topic What do you think of telemedicine for treatment of PD? in the forum Living With Parkinson's Disease 1 year, 2 months ago
I have not tried video-visits but would like to. For finding novel treatment options video would open up access to clinical research centers like Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins and Mayo Clinic.
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James Harvey replied to the topic Parkinon's impact on sleep and dreaming in the forum Parkinson's Disease Symptoms 1 year, 2 months ago
I have insomnia that I attribute to PD. The things that have helped me: 1. melatonin about 1 hr before bed (I am male and weigh about 150 lb), 2. blackout window blinds so I can sleep in the morning, 3. gabapentin 1 hr before bed, 4. one-half of a carbidopa-levodopa tab when I wake up during the night (at about 3 am and 6 am). The gabapentin is…[Read more]
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James Harvey became a registered member 1 year, 2 months ago
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hi james
Welcome to the forum! I am one of the moderators, diagnosed in 2015 at age 61. If there is anything specific you would like to see discussed on the forum, feel free to post a new topic in any of our forums or jump in on an existing topic:
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Hey James- My Dad has a tough time sleeping too (diagnosed in 2013). Have you found that gabapentin has made a difference?