madapar

[francis1777]

my wife has parkinsons and is on 7 madopar daily

seems to cause terrible confusion

any advice please

[park_bear]

What leads you to believe it is the Madopar that is causing the confusion?

[francis1777 in reply to park_bear]

she was not confused before madopar

[park_bear in reply to francis1777]

How long ago was she diagnosed with Parkinson's?

How long has she been on the Madopar? Did did she start at the current dosage?

[francis1777 in reply to park_bear]

two months from 6 daily to seven

[park_bear in reply to francis1777]

I looked and was unable to find any case reports of levodopa or Madopar related confusion. I suppose there is always the first time for such a thing. You could try cutting back her dosage and/or changing to a different medication to see if it makes any difference.

[aspergerian13 in reply to park_bear]

Perhaps:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

[rhyspeace12]

So many things cause confusion in a Parkinson's patient. Every drug my husband takes seems to have bad effects one way or another. He takes Seraquel to control being psychotic and then is dopey all the time. Sinemet gives him hallucinations. We can never figure out the "why" of any of it. I try to convince myself he doesn't have dementia, but he never gets better, just slips into confusion more and more. It is very hard being a Parkinson's caregiver and feeling hopeless when we can't "fix" things.

[9284]

I know where you are coming from

I thought my husbands confusion was Madopar but I do believe he has Parkinson's dementia

It's sad but we take every day as it comes and we have an enormous sense of humour

Keep positive

[francis1777 in reply to 9284]

thank you

[MylovedhasPd]

It seems that the dementia associated with PD is called 'lewy body dementia' (as I remember the consultant telling us, so I googled it). A year ago Beloved was taking pramipexole (was on it for a decade or so) and I'm sure that was exaggerating symptoms of dementia. He came off the pramipexole and became more lucid this whole year. Rotigotine was prescribed to replace px to help him maintain flexibility. That actually helped 'bring him back into the room' as we say, with hallucinations yes, but a better quality of life. Managing dosage is complex balancing act but we have found our way. Methinks the more dementia symptoms now, the more Rotigotine is needed. Will be asking the consultant opinion at Beloved's next appointment.