Extreme Anxiety

[KERRINGTON]

For the past 2 weeks ALL night. I have been experiencing extreme anxiety starting before dinner thru the whole night. It subsides a bit by taking mucuna. I'm afraid I will end up in the emergency room, my biggest fear. Husband too, he is a wreck.! Any of this sound familiar ? I don't have a neurologist. I have one in mind but have to wait till August.

[Michel0220]

There is a natural tendency to reach out for the medicine cabinet, but I would recommend trying meditation which has been a real lifesaver for me. There are many types of meditation and a good starting point would probably be to use an app for 10 to 15 minutes every day and then to build from there.

[chartist in reply to Michel0220]

Meditation has also suggested the potential to modulate the gut microbiome in a good way as discussed here :

neurosciencenews.com/medita...

A relevant quote from the article :

' Regular deep meditation, practised for several years, may help to regulate the gut microbiome and potentially lower the risks of physical and mental ill health, finds a small comparative study published in the open access journal General Psychiatry. '

This sounds useful for anxiety reduction.

The following article suggests melatonin may have antianxiety effects :

medicalnewstoday.com/articl...

Here is a relevant quote :

' A 2018 studyTrusted Source found that the administration of melatonin was more effective in improving anxiety and sleeping patterns than the drug oxazepam in people undergoing heart surgery. Another 2018 studyTrusted Source also indicated that melatonin could cause a higher reduction in anxiety compared to alprazolam in people undergoing various elective surgeries. '

Lastly, Ashwagandha has shown benefit for anxiety as discussed here :

psychcentral.com/anxiety/as....

Here are a few relevant quotes from the article :

' Research from 2021Trusted Source shows that ashwagandha can calm stress and anxiety. It’s an adaptogen, meaning it helps your body cope. According to research, ashwagandha also has positive effects in helping post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSDTrusted Source) and depressionTrusted Source. '

' According to 2019 researchTrusted Source, ashwagandha is thought to reduce stress by working on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Affecting how different parts of your brain interact. '

' Ashwagandha can help you get more rest as it alleviates sleep issuesTrusted Source. Helping you feel more alert during waking hours after getting enough deep sleep during the night. '

' Using this herb to improve your well-being can make a difference. With less stress, you’ll experience fewer symptoms of anxiety. '

Art

[Michel0220 in reply to chartist]

Thank you very much Art!

[Gallowglass in reply to chartist]

beautiful summary! Might I add that Christians should be encouraged meditate on Gospel passages or the rosary. In meditation Christians seek to be filled with Jesus and his loving grace, not to be empty.

[KERRINGTON in reply to chartist]

I am also dealing with OH, LOW, and High BP so can't take melatonin, or ashwagandha for anxiety...everything is hitting me in the last month.

[beehive23]

been dealing with that for 15 yrs..eventually prn benzos were my only reprieve,, meditation/mucuna etc etc all stoped working for me.......hang tough...

[docjleonard55]

Valerian is pretty good for anxiety, and also helps with sleep. If you want to go the pharma route, Klonopin works well.

[Daisies22]

Hello,Recently I found out that one of my Anti-Parkinson's medications exacerbates my anxiety. It's a side effect of the medication itself. Usually the side effects are dose-dependant so reducing the dose helped to an extent.

It might be helpful to discuss this with your Neurologist if indeed the medication is the problem.

[LagLag37 in reply to Daisies22]

Can you tell us the name of the med?

[Daisies22 in reply to LagLag37]

Sure, I'm on Madopar (100/25 Immediate release), 7 times a day and a small dose (0.75 mg per 24 h) Rotigotine transdermal patches.

[Daisies22 in reply to LagLag37]

Both madopar and Rotigotine exacerbate my anxiety though Rotigotine is worse.

[LagLag37 in reply to Daisies22]

Thank you!

[LAJ12345]

for my husband too much madopar causes the agitation. He has also had it from SSRIs and sleeping tablets.

Have you tried breathing techniques? The physiological sigh is supposed to help by offloading more co2.

youtube.com/watch?v=rBdhqBG...(Not working as expected?)

Also humming as you exhale can help.

also my husband takes a 0.5 mg clonazapam, a benzo, cut into quarters taken throughout the day. This is a very tiny dose but it helps.

[KERRINGTON in reply to LAJ12345]

Thank you. These exercises are very easy and good. I had also forgotten about humming My husband uses them now too !

[OKWY]

My husband experiences this. It started when we increased Madopar to a normal full dose (3 x 200/50 mg). Terrible! He gets so anxious, he says he'd rather die. He asks me to "do something" and it goes away within half hour to hour with TFT (tapping), touching, humming, getting up and sitting down, breathing, etc. We've very slowly reduced the Madopar to half dose over several weeks. It's getting a lot less severe and not daily anymore. He has never had the miraculous benefits from Madopar like normal PWP do. We have a friend who has had exactly the same issue and now come off Madopar completely.

In my husband's case the sweet spot is probably somewhere at half dose. But Madopar has never made an impactful improvement and his severe PD symptoms might have to do with a genetic mitochondrial OPA1 mutation.

But yes, Madopar has terrible side effects if it's not balanced.

[Daisies22 in reply to OKWY]

Hello OKWY,

Your husband's experience with Madopar sounds very similar to mine. The first and only time I took a 200/50 dose put me in A&E with high pulse rate and blood pressure, something I'd never had before. I am on 100/25 capsules 7 times a day and trying to reduce the daily dose.

Like your husband, I've never experienced any dramatic improvement of my quality of life, if there is an improvement it's marginal and lasts up to an hour.

You said your husband experiences severe PD symptoms. Do you mind me asking what they are? I'm just trying to understand my own symptoms as my Neurologist says he's never seen a case like mine (which is never good).

Thanks.

[OKWY in reply to Daisies22]

His symptoms are bradykinesia, shuffling gait with freezing, very stooped posture ( up to almost 90° angle at times), balance always looking like he's falling, almost constant drooling, tremors that came on not first, but almost last, unable to turn in bed, if he's sitting and gets into a leaning position he's unable to get himself back up sitting straight. Constipation is another big issue and I could swear it impacts his other symptoms as he has incredible swings in mobility, from wheelchair to walker to walking stick. He is already on 2 coloxyl with senna and 2 movicol daily, but still has had faecal impactation that has put him in hospital twice. All of these symptoms came on after a gallbladder surgery and bile duct infection in Oct 2019. But in hindsight he has had sore feet and ankles due to Rheumatoid Arthritis and we may have put down some earlier gait issues to RA pain. Also a hip fracture in 2015 with strong meds has in my view had an impact. Started TUDCA and B1 sublingual lately. A bit less fatigue maybe.

[LAJ12345 in reply to OKWY]

yes, this seems a very common complaint. Hubby is also on the half dose and now takes a half dose of entacapone with it and we think it helps to keep it from running out as fast or peaking as high. He started on 1/4 of the entacapone dose for a week and as it it wasn’t worse increased to 1/2 and it seems a bit better than without it.

[Farooqji]

Start taking ashwagandha and bacopa. Anxiety will go away within a few weeks

[Aysegul]

ı would recommend meditation, breathing exercise, aromatherapy.

For aromatherapy: mixture of good quality of lavender oil, vetiveria zizanioides root oil (vetivert) and cetrus atlantica (cedarwood). You can apply on your wrists at noon . I am using aromatherapy for my mom’s PD.

[Stillstandingstill]

Purely on personal experience. Are you taking high dose B1? And when are you taking it? I can't take it after mid morning as it made me feel wound up and sleepless at night. Just a thought.

[Gioc]

I understand your concern, having PD in a difficult world certainly does not reassure you.

So, given the circumstances, the mere fact of recognizing that it is a symptom like any other, in the end it will go away with the usual things: Ldopa, sleep, b1, magnesium, walking or observing the beautiful things around us, little TV and… whatsapp status: "I only accept friends with good news".

Greetings from Italy KERRINGTON.

Gio

Gardening lengthens life.👍👍😉

[miros92]

Vitamin B3 (Niacin)

amazon.com/Niacin-Story-Won...

[taxidermy1944]

I know how you feel in regards to anxiety as I have actually had to go to ER a few times myself. Severe headaches with it. Starts after supper and lasts for 4-5 hours at least. I have had no luck with my neurologist and am waiting to get an appointment with a new one. Family doctor is limited in helping. Last visit ER Dr gave me a shot of Tramodol and it helped with both headache and anxiety. It was extreme but I do not want to do it very often. Sorry, I don't think I can help you much but you are not alone.

[francis6]

I suffered from extreme anxiety, particularly after being prescribed levadopa for PD that definitely exacerbated my anxiety. The situation got so bad that I stopped taking th,e Levadopa and my anxiety subsided. I started taking levadopa again, at the insistence of my neurologist, and things escalated badly, quite quickly, to the point where my wife had to call the emergency mental health team as I had become suicidal. Eventually I managed to get an appointment with an eminent neuropsychiatrist who recognised the situation (she had seen it many times before) and prescribed me Duloxetine. I now tolerate levadopa without any problems and have not had any spells of anxiety or panic attacks in the last 3 years.