PD and Memory

[Boyce3600]

I don't see much of anything on the posts and discussions in regard to how Parkinson's affect memory. Could someone speak to that please?

[laglag]

I think it affects all of us differently, from no memory issued to Dementia, but it has definitely affected my memory. I ended up retiring mostly due to cognitive issues. I worked in accounting and was required to do a lot of analyzing of accounts & working with the Government and needed to adhere to a lot of rules and regulations. It started getting difficult to remember the detail required. I also had, and continue to have a lot of trouble multi-tasking, even unimportant small things. Some say, write yourself a note, but I'll go on to something else and forget to write the note. Some people, people that don't have PD, tell me it's just part of getting old, but I just turned 59. I don't think that it's all related to my age. There are about an average of 25 people in my boxing class and I try to exercise my brain by saying everyone's name out loud each day I go. A couple of years ago I took a cognitive test and I scored low on executive functioning, which is planning, organizing and completing tasks. lumosity.com is supposed to be a good program to "exercise" your brain, but I have not tried it yet.

[Boyce3600 in reply to laglag]

About how long after diagnosis (or before) did you notice the memory issues?

[laglag in reply to Boyce3600]

I estimate it was about 5 yrs. after diagnosis in 2003.

[TheresaCurley in reply to laglag]

For me it started a few years ago and I am just now diagnosed. I thought it was just old age problems. I'm 68. Sometimes I would think maybe l have Alzheimer's (never got checked though).

[Serenity_finaly-1]

a typical conversation at my house.

me: hey I have not seen this episode before

yes we have

me: I don't remember watching it.

yes we watched it together

me: prove it what happens next on this episode?

............... see ................

well its new to me

------------------------------------------------------------------

I will share whats going on in my life with my mom and she will reply that is not Parkinson's that happens to me. I reply are you comparing my brain with a 70 year old brain and that is suppose to make me feel better? smile

[lazyrideruk]

My wife has had Parkinson's for some 16 years. All of the physical aspects were taken care of with medication. She was still playing golf and driving up to about three years ago. Then dementia started with loss of short term memory and it has progressed. The dementia together with the physical aspect of Parkinson's means she has a problem with using cutlery, turning and sitting, washing and dressing, etc. Not only does she find simple everyday things physically difficult to do, she cant remember how to do them. Mind you, when I can get her to walk round our garden, she can still remember the names of all the plants and mostly were we got them from 30 years ago. My wife is 79.

[JohnPepper]

Sorry! What was the question?

[beang in reply to JohnPepper]

Yes, it is supposed to be hot again today.

[TheresaCurley in reply to beang]

It's good to laugh.

[beang in reply to TheresaCurley]

I was going to write something serious, but I ran out of time. Seems to happen a lot.

[TheresaCurley]

It effects all cognitive processing negatively. For me it has been my short term memory that has really been the worse. I will be driving down my road and then forget why I'm on the road at all and where I'm going. I always remember again in a few seconds, but it is very strange when it happens.

[Serenity_finaly-1 in reply to TheresaCurley]

Same thing happens to me all the time, but I am usually on the toilet.

[Serenity_finaly-1]

Oh wait I have been here before.

[Sedona]

Is it the disease or all the meds affecting our memory, ability to focus or multitask? My memory seems pretty good for things that occurred, events and such, but it seems like I forget words or names a lot, though they usually come to me after awhile. It does seem to not be as bad, now that I've retired and reduced my stress greatly.

[Serenity_finaly-1 in reply to Sedona]

so the answer is YES

[silvestrov]

I am rendering another video file.

Characteristics of executive function impairment in Parkinson's disease patients without dementia.

"Executive function impairments in Parkinson's disease (PD) are well documented. However, uncertainties remain regarding the impact of these deficits on other areas of cognitive functioning. The goal of this study was to provide a comprehensive assessment of cognitive characteristics in patients with PD without dementia and to assess how any such deficits affected other areas of cognitive functioning. Forty PD patients without dementia were compared to healthy controls using measures of attention and speed of processing and a comprehensive set of executive function tests including working memory, planning, and problem solving. Measures of memory/learning and visuospatial skills were also included to examine the relationship between aspects of executive function and other areas of cognition. Patients with PD showed deficits on measures of executive function, problem solving, and visuospatial skills. However, they were unimpaired on measures of planning, attention, and memory/learning. Deficits in problem solving were only evident for tasks with a high visuospatial content and were no longer significant when visuospatial skills were controlled for. While deficits in executive function and visuospatial skills were apparent for PD patients compared to controls, many aspects of cognition remained intact. These can provide a focus for cognitive intervention strategies that can be effective in delaying decline for PD patients."

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/200...

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Use of sulbutiamine in the treatment of Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, alcoholism, and dysthymia

"In Parkinson's patients, treated with sulbutiamine, an improvement in the cognitive, executive and mnesic functions was observed, with diminution of the sensation of fatigue."

google.com/patents/US5863925

____________________________________________________________________________

I have read about sulbutiamine and it is a synthetic analogue of thiamine - vitamin B1.

It, unlike thiamine, can cross the blood brain barrier and has been shown to increase thiamine levels in the brain. I wrote above that it is an 'synthetic analogue' of thiamine - in other words, it is a drug and tolerance to it can occur within one year or so. It loses some of its potency and a drug holiday is in order. This supplement is used by college age students who are cramming for tests and need a boost in cognition. I have never tried this supplement. It should not be taken with bipolar disorder:

Sulbutiamine, an 'innocent' over the counter drug, interferes with therapeutic outcome of bipolar disorder.

"A case of a patient with bipolar disorder with a history of hospitalizations and addiction to sulbutiamine is presented. Sulbutiamine is a precursor of thiamine that crosses the blood-brain barrier and is widely available without prescription in most countries or over the internet. Because of this patient's need to consume ever increasing quantities of sulbutiamine, his psychiatric care was severely compromised through him defaulting appointments and frequent changes of psychiatrists."

Below is a link to purchasing sulbutiamine on amazon.com. When purchasing any product of this sort I read all the reviews to make sure I know what I am buying. There are 96 reviews here:

amazon.com/Sulbutiamine-Noo...

Rich

PS. I use this companies brand of Magnesium threonate and it works fine. The above brand is the best bargain on the net.