Sleep and abdominal pain

[Enidah]

I seem to need about 8, 9 even 10 hours of sleep a night. If I don't get enough sleep I have abdominal, intestinal pain. Not nausea, that would make more sense to me. I have brought this up at my local support group but haven't had any takers. I know it's a little vague but I just wondered if this sounds familiar to anybody.

[parkie13]

By any chance are you on azilect? I had pain with it at not nausea.

[Enidah in reply to parkie13]

No, just sinemet. Thank you for your response.

[Hidden]

I may be in a smiler boat.....Do you have the abdominal pain after eating or taking meds? Is the pain more acute when you go to lie down, say after eating? I am experiencing this and so when I go to bed I have trouble getting to sleep for anything from 30 minutes to 2 hours or more, having taken my last dose of Sinemet of the day.....usually very late (11 pm to midnight) most of the time. Then I wake up 5 hours after last dose, needing to take the first dose of the next day, with some sort of light 'food' or liquid like a shake. Again, no matter what I have ingested with the Sineet, I have very uncomfortable digestive pains.

Have sort of given up on probiotics, though I still take them twice a day (with breakfast and dinner), and additional fibre supplements. Have almost eliminated all carbs, reduced sugar intake to the bare minimum. Nothing has changed.

[jeeves19]

I'm getting mild nausea of late and some pain but then again I've been on anti acid medication for years: way before PD. I don't take sinemet

[Nivrac77]

I am on Sinamet, but even prior to diagnosis for PD, I had stomach pain described more like stomach cramps like when I was a kid and I ran so hard my sides and stomach hurt. (That's the best description I can give to the pain). Went to 3 different doctors who ran scans, conducted endoscopy and even did ultrasound of stomach- ending in no conclusive results. After going through all this , then tremors started and next, diagnosis of PD and started on various pre-Sinamet regular drugs none of which I could tolerate nor reduced symptoms, then I went on Sinamet. Good news was all symptoms significantly improved with Sinamet until 3 weeks ago (after being on Sinamet for about 8 months and now those same stomach pains are back. My very non-scientific theory (after doing some reading about various symptoms and theories of symptoms prior to PD diagnosis) is that this may have something to do with Lewy body development in the gut. Any thoughts from others with stomach side effects?

[Ameister in reply to Nivrac77]

I had burning in mid left side for years. Colonoscopies and endoscopy and nexium etc. diagnosis was IBS. I am convinced it is related to my pd

[Enidah]

That is one of the great things about this site, whatever I bring up I always end up feeling less alone with the problem. After reading other people's experiences and suggestions I think I'm going to try eating a little something before I take the sinemet in the morning and see if that helps. We still know so little about PD and especially how it all relates to the gastrointestinal system.

[Penelope68]

I often have stomach pain but it seems to be related to digestion and I believe I have developed IBS from constipation and PD. It's an on-going problem. I have to think about it all the time... fiber, hydrate, prunes... etc. Just one more gift from Parkinson's. The gift that keeps on giving.

[Enidah in reply to Penelope68]

I am getting a good perspective on my complaint. I count my blessings that it's only bad when I don't get enough sleep and I'm probably making it worse by drinking coffee first thing in the morning but I don't think life would be worth living without the coffee. I always have at least two tablespoons of ground flaxseed with my lunch, I don't really eat much breakfast, plus oatmeal blueberries walnuts coconut and yogurt all mixed together. Since I have been eating that I have not had any constipation. Of course I also drink lots of water and eat other fruits and vegetables and whole grains and nuts blah blah blah. I hate to get into the whole diet thing but all that has been a great help.

[shadesofnothing in reply to Penelope68]

I'm very similar to you. I have boxes of "Laxido" on standby for constipation which comes and goes from one day/week to the other; there seems to be no pattern. I try to eat healthily, but I'm not perfect. Brown bread, brown rice, prunes, or any concocted fruit 'n veg (green) slushes help, but don't take at the same time as the Laxido as you'll be running up mileage to and fro, going from the loo (plus you dare not leave the house, lol.

[Hikoi]

It may be a reflection of the amount of sleep you get or it could be something connected with a change of timing for meds etc. I now check my BP when i feel abdominal discomfort and I am finding it is a sign of low BP for me, I dont get dizzy.

I read this this week:

Parkinson’s is a disease of neurons, not just brain but also the enteric nervous system is heavily affected. The enteric nervous system consists of about 500 million neurons buried within the wall of the gut; it controls the functions of the entire gut, from esophagus to colon, and can operate independently of the brain and spinal cord.

In Parkinson’s, more than 90% of the dopamine neurons in the enteric nervous system are wiped out so we get non motor symptoms including difficulty swallowing, drooling, bloating after food and constipation.

[Enidah in reply to Hikoi]

Thank you for this information! I feel like I'm trying to put a puzzle together. I'll let you know if I solve it.

[shadesofnothing in reply to Hikoi]

Thanks Hikoi, this is an eye-opener, isn't it. I have constipation (7/10), acidity and lots of drooling so I am wondering how many millions of neurons I am "losing!" daily. I don't think I want to know, lol. Thanks for sharing.

[Astra7]

Could it be your liver? I think the meds can put the liver under a lot of stress and apparently liver pain is often confused with abdominal pain.

Perhaps you could do a liver function test.

[Enidah in reply to Astra7]

Good idea! I haven't had the liver test for several years.

[Hikoi]

Enidah

Over the years Ive had abdominal pain/discomfort. I can get too tied up in trying to find a cause because often i cant do much about it unfortunately but then it resolves and then another symptom comes to bother me.

The studies have shown pain to be one of the main problems for pwp. Abdominal pain can be trapped wind and it can be from dystonia of the abdominal muscles along with other things. I feel like a detective trying to piece the bits together to make sense of it all.

What i do believe is that PD is a syndrome that involves multiple systems in the body. The movement problems are just the ones people see.