Anxiety

Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 8:03 am Post subject: Anxiety?

More people with parkinson's disease suffer from anxiety than depression.

I am with Requip 4 mg / 4 mg / 2 mg, Sinemet one / half / half and Selegiline 5 mg bd. My blood pressure is no longer low. In fact it has gone up to 150 / 80 in the late evening. In the evening, I also feel tired and tense. I know that my Parkinson's is well controlled, but I am often worried about the possibility of recurrence of TIA. I can fall asleep easily with Lorazepam 1.5 mg at night, but often wakes up early (4 am). After that, I can't fall asleep anymore. Kindly advise.
Back to top


Dr. FernandezJoined: 20 Jan 2007Posts: 90
Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 4:51 pm Post subject:

Hi, Difficulty maintaing sleep at night is very common in PD. The reasons for this are varied. Most often it is because of low levels of medication such that the patient feels uncomfortable therby waking up often. Sometimes, it is because of too much naping during the day, depression, anxiety, etc. Low blood pressure when sleeping is not usually a concern because you are lying flat which brings blood supply to the brain. So, the first thing I would suggest is to talk to your doctor to discuss the possibility of simply making your requip 4 mg three times per day. If this does not help, you can see if adding a sinemet CR at night might help. If not, then you need to look at other causes of sleep fragmentation. Perhaps even consider a sleep study (termed polysomnography). Or change your sleeping pill to another brand. Yours,_________________Hubert H. Fernandez
Back to top