There is a theory in quantum mechanics sometimes called Heisenbergs Uncertainty Principle. It states that it is impossible to measure the position and momentum of an atom without affecting the overall system.
I believe this theorem can be extended to Parkinson's patients who are tested by their professionals or participate in studies on effectiveness of medications. I find my symptoms magnify when put under pressure. I recently participated in a study and when asked to perform a series of activities within a minute my mind went blank and the shakes started. This affected subsequent tests and I feel distorts the results. I am interested whether other Parkinson's persons have had similar experiences.
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Walhalla50
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My husband, who is a retired electro/mechanical engineer, states there is no question but that your facts are correct and can certainly be applied to testing Parkinson's patients. He has sat and watched the results you describe happen to me. The stress of "testing" affects me in such a way that I am happy the doctor adjusts the outcome accordingly. Without the formal title of "Testing" my results are far better. This is just one opinion. Perhaps you will receive others,
I am th same as you!! Any pressure or being in a position to speak about PD in the last 6 months has caused me to become severely disckonetic and my memory of names unbelievably bad.
When I am on the phone the same problems exist this is limiting my involvement with some aspects of my time as a PD activist.
Still I have had 11yrs of reasonable health and can't complain--well not to much. ..
I suppose if we brought it down into Ley Terms pressure must affect our ability to cope
Perhaps people who are used to working under pressure may cope differently.
I think surely it is difficult to judge as we are all very different even with same disease.
PD to me is just an umbrella for lots of similar conditions.
Some days I cope very well with pressure and would give any one a run for their money. other days I cant cope with it at all.
I wanted to say something on this thread and wrote a great big post but it was so boring so I deleted it before inflicting you with it by pressing the submit button. I hate it when you do that. All that effort put into writing all those paragraphs and in the end you decide not to use it.
In essence I wanted to agree with the above posts but add that the way you behave in any given circumstance is going to be effected by probably several factors. The most obvious being the period of your medication cycle. So that if medication is at its peak then you will have fewer distractions due to having to wrestle with symptoms. Another factor will be your basic self-belief system that your formed prior to PD. You will also behave differently according to the personality type you are dealing with. The way you respond to a very domineering perhaps bombastic sod will be quite different to an open obviously kind hearted individual.
The effect of the factor of degree of pressure is going to vary depending upon the previous factors. If your were to peel off all the various layers you'd probably find a myriad of factors effecting your response to being in a certain circumstance. It seems likely to me that you could probably spend quite some years studying all this and write huge books on the matter. I expect that somewhere somebody or even many people already have.
I find that almost anything causes me stress and when afflicted, my tremour returns and my speech becomes ecen more garbled. The biggest facor is people particularly if a (non Pd) group suddenly descend on me. Curiously when ding tests for Reearch )apart from with my Neurologist for some reason) I can nmanage well with little stress but as one comment said, at these sc eduled times i always ensure I am fully medicated
yes I am the same, any pressure good or bad sets me off. I have started to freeze a lot, I take stalvo & 1 slow release Mirapexin. But seems to kick in just after I have taken a pill.Any ideas... have had pd 10 years
If I take a Madopar tablet it takes an hour to reach peak effect. During that hour the benefit I perceive is practically nil, Stalevo is different by virtue of the addition of Encapatone which preseves dopamine in the brain after it has been used so that it may be "recycled" rather than metabolised.
No idea what difference this makes for the time to reach peak effect of the levodopa.
I also take 1 per day of the Pramipexole slow release
.
How long does your benefit from a dose of Stalevo last ?
I take I azilect and 4.5 mg if slow release sifrol in the morning and generally take 3 100 mg stalevo ( sometimes I take 4 if I have been using up a lot of dopamine) during the day. I usually wait till the wearing off starts before I take the next one. It takes about 40 minutes to kick in on an empty stomach and lasts usually about 4 hours once kicked in.
I underwent the neuo-psych eval for dbs 3 months ago. It started with word recall which I found surprisingly difficult. I felt like a moron for the remainder of the 3-4 hr process. Came up with a 114 IQ... I have turned down invitation to join Mensa 3 times.
Stress is something that I can't handle well anymore. Coping skills are faint at best.
Wow this is my kind of post! I am a philosophy professor, and teach the Uncertainity Principle. I like the application, however the danger is to make the situation fit the paradigm? Any kind of stress makes me shake. I'll have to think more about the application.
Wow this is my kind of post! I am a philosophy professor, and teach the Uncertainity Principle. I like the application, however the danger is to make the situation fit the paradigm? Any kind of stress makes me shake. I'll have to think more about the application.
I find that I sway when over stimulated....by conversation or going to my neurologist. It must be a type of dyskenisia. I like and respect my neurologist, but he makes me nervous. I don't always do what he says and worry he will take a dim view......why I need his approval is a throw back to the past.....needing approval from an authority figure. He wanted to give me a nerve block for a periphial nerve problem I was having.....I read up on it and didn't want to be treated with steroids so I canceled the procedure. I wanted him to prescribe LDN which doesn't cure PWP but I believe helps and he didn't want to " rock the boat" as he phrased it. So my family Doctor prescribed it for me and I am happy with my progress. He seemed nonchalant about it when I next saw him, but he did notice my improvement. I live in a small town and my choices of neurologists are limited so I don't know if anyone else would be better.
I'm amazed that my symptoms magnify in situations I would never have considered stressful before PD. I don't have a serious problem with tremor but it shows up at odd times such as when I am with visitors. I was really shocked when my tremor came when I was reading a novel and reached a part in the novel that was particularly tense!
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