Managing Medication

It is coming up to nearly two years since I was diagnosed with this condition. On 15 December 2020, I was to hear the words, ‘you have Parkinson’s’.

From that moment, I was immediately put on medication. The first of these was Ramipex or Pramipexole then later in the first year – from memory – another additional medication was added called Sinemet. As a result of taking these medications, I have had some return of my sense of smell and also my tremors have been pretty much non-existent. So, things have been well under control. That is until recently. I have noticed that around 6pm or thereabouts I have started to get tremors again. Not every night, but often enough. I have also noticed a couple of times at work that I have had the odd tremor. This could, however, be that I have had a few particularly stressful days over the last week or so, and I know that my symptoms – especially tremor – can be worse if I am particularly stressed.

So, this return of the tremor is something that I have pretty much tried to ignore. Hoping, I suppose that it will go away and settle by itself. As I have said, it is not every day, but often enough that I felt I needed to get some advice. So, I contacted my Neurology Nurse. I had a brief discussion with her about what has been happening. She responded by saying that my medications may need adjusting from 3 x daily to 4 x daily.

I had been somewhat reluctant to make contact with her, because in doing so I might have to face the reality that my condition might be progressing. I asked her if this meant that my Parkinson’s was progressing more rapidly, but she didn’t seem to think so. I hope she wasn’t just saying that to reassure me and that it hopefully doesn’t mean things are happening that I should worry about.

She has advised that she will speak to my Neurologist and see what he recommends. I am – despite my best efforts – afraid that just under two years in that I may be progressing. Actually, I’m not sure ‘progressing’ is the right word. That makes it sound like a positive thing, ‘progressing’ and moving forward. Perhaps regressing might be a more apt description?

She is going to ring me back at the end of the week after talking to Dr Anderson, my Neurologist. Hopefully – even if the medications are increased – it doesn’t mean that I need to be concerned about deterioration in my condition and that it is just about getting the balance of medications right to manage symptoms.

Fingers crossed.