Anxiety in PD

[leojohn]

My husband has had PD for 7 years. He is experiencing high anxiety. I understand that some anti anxiety medication interferes with dopamine. How is anxiety treated in patients with Parkinson's? What is an effective medication?

[Bailey_Texas]

What meds is your husband taking. Some meds can cause anxiety.

[rhyspeace12]

My husband started expepriencing extreme anxiety, especially when working on things like his taxes. then it advanced to panic attacks. We got medication for panic attacks and he went into delirium and hallucinations. Finally, we realized he had taken a diuretic , lost lots of water and didn't replace it. Dehydration can cause a lot of problems and the patient can go without experiencing thirst. He was in bad shape for about 4 days, and now is much improved. I keep him drinking water all of the time.

[Dap1948]

Mirtazapine calms and reduces tremors. It doesn't block dopamine and works well with ldopa meds and Azilect.

[vincea]

I also had anxiety and after a first 5 or 6 appointments with my Neuro, he wrote a prescription for Clonazepam, and that quieted my anxiety. Plus it is a very good sleeping pill, so you take it about an hour before bedtime. Research it . . . it will indicate that it is OK for PWP.

[leojohn in reply to vincea]

Thanks Vincea. I will look into it.

[Donzim]

I have listed repeatedly on the use of theanine...a life saver from tea that eliminated 15 years of panic and anxiety in my husband. It is NOT THREANINE so don't mix it up. We started at 100mg every four hours, then titrated up to 400mg ev. 4 hrs. My husband had a sleep problem so we reduced it to 300 around dinner and none after that til morning but everyone has their own metabolism.

Integrative Therapeutics makes oral lavender oil which is very calming. Directions say one a day but my husbands doc laughed at that and said he could take whatever he needed. He did and never had side effects from either theanine or lavender. We used theanine every day and if he got a big shock or surprise that overwhelmed him, he took a couple of lavenders to calm down and get back in sync.

[Hidden]

Look into the amino acid "L-Tyrosine ". I give my Mom 1000 mg once a day on an empty stomach. It's natural and does the job.

[bassofspades]

Hypnotherapy works wonders. One session and no meds. My anxiety was horrible. Now its gone. Not kidding.