Caregiver for 2 year(s)
I am my 77 year old mother’s care provider. I am navigating her medical care and it has been a long, hard road to get her where she is today as her functional status was slowly and progressively declining. It all began about 3 years ago with a tremor in her left hand. The tremor increased and involved her left arm. She began falling. Repeatedly. Perhaps up to fifteen falls in a six month period of time. She denied her falls and became very paranoid and angry. Big personality changes. We all knew she had a movement disorder and believed that a neurological evaluation was imperative. In her first appointment with the neurologist on 02/05/2015, she exhibited every one of the four markers for Parkinson’s Disease in the initial evaluation and was diagnosed with PD. The neurologist discontinued the anticholinergics and histamines she was prescribed by her former treating physician. She immediately began taking Levodopa Carbidopa and is moving well, is cognitively much better, is engaged in BIG physical therapy for PD. The mere prescription medication of Levodopa Carbidopa has C.H.A.N.G.E.D. her life. I had her accepted by a new primary treating physician who is working in close tandem with her neurologist. As she is more cognitively aware of her PD, she is now alert to her symptoms of PD. I have found some true advocates in my journey with my mother. A pharmacologist, neurologist, and primary treating physician all need to work in close collaboration in the treatment of our loved ones with PD.