Has anyone tried an osteopath for rigid shoulders and loss of dexterity in your hands?

[LAJ12345]

One of my husband’s most annoying problem for him is the loss of dexterity meaning he struggles with buttons, his fly, and going a whole night playing bridge as his hands wear out. Has anyone had this problem and tried using an osteopath or chiropractor and has it helped? We’ve tried the vitamin solutions eg b vitamins but these don’t help with this and I wonder if it is that he likes sitting for hours at the pc playing bridge. His posture is stiff and head forward as he sits there.

[park_bear]

I love my chiropractor, but in my opinion this is not a problem for a chiropractor or an osteopath.

In order of importance:

1. His symptoms are symptoms of under medication. Increasing his medication may be in order. What medications is he taking?

2. Long-term efforts to improve his underlying condition are also in order. Is he taking high-dose thiamine? Also take a look at celery seed extract which I wrote about here:

healthunlocked.com/parkinso...

3. Yoga and massage do help somewhat.

Sitting for hours on end in front of the computer does not help. Regular breaks are important.

[LAJ12345 in reply to park_bear]

Ok thanks. He is on C/L but takes only one in the morning as he feels it makes no difference. He tried up to 3 but all he felt was nausea and no other effect. Also sertraline and mirtazapine.

Yes he is on thiamine and lots of other things (see profile) which have helped with face, anxiety and depression, and now he has discovered he can do the repetitive hand tapping test for much longer, but not stiffness of hands.

He walks most days and was doing qigong and lsvt exercises and hand exercises but stopped when he was feeling bad and refuses to start again.

[park_bear in reply to LAJ12345]

Has he been trying the immediate release version of C/L, or a controlled-release/extended release version? I found the immediate release version made me feel bad too. There is tremendous difference between these. So if he has been using the immediate release version get him one of the time-released versions instead.

[LAJ12345 in reply to park_bear]

He is on a generic sinemet immediate release. The neuro prescribed it and said see you in 18 months. I don’t think the gp will change the prescription. What is the name of the control release one? I can maybe see if the neuro nurse can help. How did you get yours?

[park_bear in reply to LAJ12345]

Mine were most recently prescribed by my regular physician. Levodopa medications have a low danger of serious adverse effects or abuse, so there is no reason why a regular physician should not be able to prescribe these for a Parkinson's patient. Medication names: Sinemet CR, or for the generic, carbidopa / levodopa ER.

Eighteen months is way too long for a patient who is having difficulties. If you cannot get this promptly through your neurologist or their office, find a physician who is more cooperative.

[Bruceyg65 in reply to LAJ12345]

A lot of people report that some of the generics are ineffective. It seems that the Mayne brand works well but the others don’t. See healthunlocked.com/parkinso...

[LAJ12345 in reply to Bruceyg65]

His has not even got a name😕

[Bruceyg65 in reply to LAJ12345]

The name of the manufacturer should appear somewhere on the bottle. If not, the pharmacist must be able to tell you what they use.

[LAJ12345 in reply to Bruceyg65]

Mmmm. It’s not on there so I will ask the pharmacy next time I’m in there.

[LAJ12345 in reply to Bruceyg65]

Ah, I just looked again on the label and it has (kin) after the name and I checked on the pharmac schedule which is the government approved drugs and it appears kin might be Kinson. The other option on the list was sinemet and I think he had that originally but said that didn’t do anything either.

I found a reference saying kinson’s sponsor is Mylan NZ whatever sponser means??

[Hikoi]

Park Bear is right. Lack of dexetrity,stiffness and slowness are classic signs of PD. They are the signs that the doctor uses to diagnose PD. He needs exercise and drugs.

[LAJ12345 in reply to Hikoi]

Ok, will see if he will try more C/L but he doesn’t like it as it makes him feel sick. He only takes 1 before breakfast.

He walks most days and was doing qigong and lsvt exercises and hand exercises but stopped when he was feeling bad and refuses to start again.

[Hikoi in reply to LAJ12345]

LAJ he could try taking c/l with food. You will get people saying not to but many people find food doesn't interfere until a few years down the track.

[LAJ12345 in reply to Hikoi]

He has had some bad experiences with food when he first started on it where he would start to shake and judder which has put him off so now he takes it half hour before breakfast and has found uridine seems to help him feel less sick. But he can’t take more uridine if he has more L/C

[Cjbro2000 in reply to LAJ12345]

@LAJ12345 Just a few crackers does it for me. Then I wait an hour or so after taking the C/L before eating anything with protein. No nausea. Or try taking with a banana. The potassium helps prevent nausea.

[LAJ12345 in reply to Cjbro2000]

Ok I’ll try that. Thanks

[movinngroovin1]

Yes-love it!

[NanCyclist]

Exercise. My watch buzzes every hour to remind me to take at least 250 steps per hour.

[Donzim]

Absolutely the chiropractor. My husband went weekly to help straighten out all the little compensations he made as a result of PD effect on muscles. I don’t have PD but must go to chiro when I spend time on the computer...sitting or standing in one position for a period of time will allow spasms and tightness to occur. Also helps interrupt buildup of lactic acid. Regular movement, exercise, supplements, CBD and chiro helps hugely.

[Donzim]

BTW, cut off the buttons from his shirts, sew up the button holes and re-sew the buttons on top of the closed hole. Sew little squares of Velcro (sticky side)under the closed holes and the other soft Velcro square on the placket underneath. Your husband will totally be able to close his shirts easily. You can do the same with his pants but it’s more difficult with the fly. Still possible. He can switch to elastic waist pants most of the time.

[LAJ12345 in reply to Donzim]

Good idea. He is wearing T-shirt’s now but struggling to get them on and off

[Donzim]

He can also buy a card holder so he can stop clenching cards in his hands. The chiropractor can work on his hands as well if he asks. Does mine regularly.

[LAJ12345 in reply to Donzim]

Yeah, he has one of those but won’t use it.

[PDGal4]

Have you considered an occupational therapist? He/she can give him exercises to improve hand strength and dexterity?

I also used to get nauseous from meds and took with dry cracker or other food. But after a few months, I guess my body adjusted as stopped being problematic.

I see from your profile your husband was diagnosed just last year. He is still very early in the adjustment/grief/denial period. It took me three years to get through that initial phase.

[LAJ12345]

Yes I think he is still hoping to wake up every morning to find it was a dream. But to be honest he has been ill for many years, but we didn’t know what it was. Too vague to pin down.

He is reluctant to do most things that might help especially if they cost money. He won’t go to any of the support things. He has access to a Pd gym but it is an hour hour drive and after glancing through the door when we went to check it out decided he wasn’t doing that. Motivation is the problem. He wants to feel better but not to do anything to help himself.

I’ll try him on the dry cracker and see if it helps. We had started doing the intermittent fasting eating breakfast later and I think it might be what’s making him feel worse so I might go back to making him eat early.