I left the hospital armed with a starter pack of Ropinerole and a supply of motilium to counteract the nausea that seemed to kick in from the very first dose of Ropinerole that I took and swept through me causing my head to spin and my stomach to heave. I regularly lost what I had eaten whilst waiting for the Motilium to take effect.
Following the DAT scan my first appointment with Dr Burns, a specialist in the treatment of parkinsons was scheduled at Lightburn Hospital in the east end of Glasgow which fortunately is only a few miles from where I live. Laraine was coming with me as she didn't think I would ask the right questions. When we got there, much to my horror I found out that Lightburn was a " geriatric " hospital for the care of the elderly. It had been starved of funding for years, all of its wards had been closed and it had only narrowly escaped closure. The waiting room we were shown into was full of the very old. Some very frail confined to wheelchairs, some shuffling around and some clearly suffering from dementia. Im afraid I was horrified and let self pity creep in. I wasn't old. I was only fifty two but was this the future for me?
After a few minutes we were shown into the consulting room but we did not see Dr Burns that day and instead my " Parkinson's Nurse " Jackie introduced herself to us. Jackie is a bit of a live wire and very down to earth and immediately put both Laraine and I at ease. She explained that the DAT scan had shown basically that part of my brain was missing. The part of the brain known as the substantia nigri which produces dopamine had partially wasted and died and as with all brain death the damage was irreversible. Dopamine is the chemical which allows the body to control movement and of course I was lacking this hence the movement problems that I was encountering. Jackie explained that the Ropinerole which I had been prescribed was not a synthetic dopamine but instead was a " dopamine agonist " which was fooling my body to believe it was getting the dopamine that it needed. Quite foolishly I had thought things would settle down almost immediately and the shaking would stop but it hadn't and I complained of this to Jackie. She advised that the body could not cope with getting the full therapeutic dose straight off. The dose would gradually be increased over a period of about six weeks at which point I should begin to see some improvement.
Jackie also told us both that i have had Parkinson's for many years with out knowing.
Jackie gave me her telephone number which I could call at anytime if I wanted to discuss anything about my condition and introduced me to the local Parkinson's support group which met in the hospital each month.
Somehow I would have to get back to work but first I would have to get up to the therapeutic dose of Ropinerole to get the shaking under control.
Two part question about really bad \"OFF\" time.
Peak doses of levodopa - how extreme are your symptoms? 
New and current hope for Parkinson's Disease
Your 'teeth and gums' could be CAUSING your PD!
