Is cognitive decline common in PD?

[emswife]

People close to me have commented that I seem to be much more disorganised and more easily confused recently. Is this common and how do I prevent a steady decline?

[drew410]

More common than you think (no pun intended). I would suggest that you speak to your GP about this.

[Beachdog]

Sadly yes.

pdf.org/en/cognitive_impair...

[Hidden in reply to Beachdog]

Thank you! That was very helpful to me.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

After going to Beachdog's link I found this link:

Found this useful information:

pdf.org/en/parkinson_exerci...

Found it encouraging!

[Hidden]

One of the main reasons I retired from teaching.

[bawford in reply to Hidden]

I agree with DiCan . Yes this is very real!! This was one of the main reason's I went on disability from a sr admin position at a world wide company. I feel more depressed dealing with this than the pakinson. It even affects my thinking and spelling.

[MrDay]

Hi, I have had PD for about five years. In the past year I have felt a significant worsening of my cognitiva ability. I feel this loss very difficult and stressful. Much worse than others symtomer.

Mr Day

[wordworks2001]

This may sound rather simplistic, but I find that challenging my mind every day whenever I can helps my cognitive ability. I do puzzles, contribute to blogs, stay up to date on issues that concern me, write letters to my state and federal legislators, bird watch, post on FB, etc. I have had PD for more than 15 years.

[emswife]

I have a p/t job which takes up some time about 6 days a week, so I keep my brain active. It bothers me that n spite of the intellectual challenges and stimulation this brings, some days I feel I couldn't "manage a bag of apples" or to use a British expression "organise a bun fight in a bakery".

[tlongmire in reply to emswife]

LOL!! I feel your pain.

[srarndt]

I've read that approximately 40% of parkies end up with Lewy Body Dementia.

(Generally PD specific)

Add that to the % of us who will, like the non-PD population, be suffering from all other types of dementias, and the side effects of our medications I would have to give you an affirmative answer.

But, NOT ALL IS GLOOM AND DOOM! Fight it, make it delay by rigorous physical and intellectual exercise!! More and more studies are singing harmony on this!

Steve (Bisbee, AZ)

[Hidden in reply to srarndt]

Good advise, Steve.

[tlongmire in reply to srarndt]

Yes, very good advice.

[mccshe]

Oh my , disorganized and easily confused, not to mention losing things all the time! Frustration has become my middle name!

i don't take it lying down though. I continually try to learn new things.

Believe it or not I am still silly enough to believe that I can learn to play the piano which I've been at for approx. 2 years now.

Also there is a great site called Lumosity which has many types of games for memory and such, you should try it...It helps !

[honeycombe3]

Emswife,

I went through a very bad patch in this area with gradual deterioration of my cognitive faculties until I pressed the panic button as I thought dementia was setting in. I'd had the odd moan at my regular clinics but it took floods of tears to break through to my support team. It was the PDS nurse who looked at meds & told me she had come across this before in patients taking Orphenadrine (Disipal) for PD. I came slowly off it & my cognitive function has improved. The downside is that nothing else has been so effective in managing the tremor,rigor & pain

[JerriB]

Yes, and this is why I am on disability and unable to continue my career as an E-Learning Producer/Programmer. Computers simply do not run if you cannot program correctly :), but I don't dwell on it. I currently take a cocktail of Providual, Azilect and Sinemet first thing of the morning and that keeps me focused and pretty good throught the day, with Sinemet two times more per day. We also play a lot of board games and cards that challenge my brain. This seems to help also. In the evening I see the dementia creeping back as the meds wear off. I am like most this is more frustrating than Parkinson's.

[emswife]

thanks to all for reassurance. Im not losing my marbles without a fight, although I too cannot return to my f/t lecturing post. I miss it, but Im philosophical, at least Im beginning to come to terms with having to give up that job.

[Susie01]

My cognitive function has degressed faster than my physical decline. It is really difficult, I also have had more difficulty with speech in the last 6-8 months.

[Hidden]

i am 42 y/o. went through dbs surgery. been dx for over 10 years. i am moving away from my family in a couple days. wife says im not the man she married from cog decline. having to relearn to live, now alone. didnt do much for my depression.

[S70AWD]

I see this was published five years ago. How has it gone since then?