Newly Diagnosed

[vmartino26]

Hi. I'm new to this board. I received a diagnosis of PD several days ago. I'm a 57 year old male. My symptoms are not noticeable. I do have some stiffness and do get cramping in my fingers and toes. I have an MRI scheduled for this weekend, but the neurologist I saw expects that to be fine. He wants to start me on requip and azlitect next week.
I've read there is some controversey about starting on drugs without noticeable symptoms. I also have scheduled a second opinion movement specialist next week for confirmation of the diagnosis. What's the thought on getting second opinions, and for taking medication without any noticeable symptoms. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[NerveEnding]

This is an area of debate. If your symptoms are so mild that they are not really noticable except for some stiffness, a lot of whether you should go on medicine is up to you. There is some suggestion--controversial--that azilect may be neuroprotective, that is, it may slow the disease down. If your symptoms are as mild as you say, I would suggest the azilect, 1mg/day, is all that you would need right now, and I would defer the requip.

[windwalkerwest]

Hi,

Welcome to the PD board. A second opinion is what you want to get and if the two differ, maybe a third opinion would be necessary.

Only you can say when to start medication. Learn as much as you can about the disease and the different medications. There is tons of info on the internet.

As far as the right meds for you, again, only you can decide. I was put on Requip at first and it did nothing for me. I did not notice any improvement in 8 weeks of it. So, I asked the Dr. to put me on Sinemet, and that made all the difference. Granted, several years later it does not work as well as at first. I did not take meds or get an official diagnosis until I had PD for about 7 years (looking back I could tell when it started). I didn't have a tremor, so who thought PD?? my symptoms started (looking back) to losing my sense of smell, "dragging/limping" my left foot, could not walk as far, fatigue, then not swinging my left arm when I walked and leaning forward like a hunchback. Thought maybe it might have been from a small stroke. I went from walking 4 miles a day before PD to not being able to go around the block. I felt so stiff and heavy I felt like I had a suit of armour on. Anyway, the Sinemet took all that away but now it is not working as well.

I think you will have to try different meds to find out which works best for you. Everyone is different and not everyone can take the same dosage. If you don't feel bad enough to start taking meds yet, I would wait as long as I could before taking anything. There is not rush to jump into something... PD is a slow progress disease. I started having it when I was about 54 and have had it for 10 years now. Exercise is ultra important. I find water aerobics the best!

Let us know how your second opinion came out and if you decided to start meds.

Betty

[sunshine221]

Welcome - I'd question two drugs at once. Requip did great for me for over a year for leg stiffness and I'm now adding Azilect - i tried it for two weeks, it didn't seem to do much and I had to stop for dental work but I might start it again now and give it a chance. (on the other hand, my symptoms are less than when the doc saw me in December and I may just hold off on the Azilect)

Keep us posted

Sunshine

[vmartino26]

Well, got the second opinion. PD it is. The motion disorders specialist said that he's 85 to 90 percent certain it's PD. The wiggle room is because my symptoms are so subtle. And what did my wife and I do after we received the second opinion? We went out and celebrated! A wonderful dinner at the Olive Garden. Now I have heart disease and PD. We figured we'd better celebrate something! So tomorrow (Thursday) I begin treatment with Azilect. Nothing else. My neuro exepcts me to tolerate the medication well, and hopes this that medication alone relieves some of the symptoms. But because I'm so symptom free, nothing beyond Azilect at this point. So I take that as a good thing. I exercise three or four times a week, so that will continue. So I guess I'll let the journey begin. It's amazing how the diagnsis and confirmation came about in two weeks. I'm also exploring the use of COQ10 as a treatment. The COQ10 is supposed to have some significant benefit to heart disease patients so I'm going to speak to my cardiologist about that. Maybe I can indirectly help my PD and heart disease with the addition of one supplement. As they say, it's not about the destination, it's about the journey. Thanks for your help.