We have a client in Tucson with Parkinson\u2019s Disease.\u00a0 His family moved him into an assisted living facility because they were facing challenges associated with falls and mood changes.\u00a0\u00a0 His situation only got worse because he did not receive the attention he needed.\u00a0 He desperately wanted to return home so his family contacted us and asked us to provide 24-hour care.<\/p>\n
Our caregivers began to assist him with daily activities, and a family member proactively managed his medications with the help of his doctor.\u00a0 The caregivers help him take his medications multiple times a day as prescribed because timing is incredibly important when it comes to managing Parkinson\u2019s symptoms.\u00a0 Now, nine months later, this client is doing extraordinarily better.\u00a0 His is not a fall risk and mood changes are no longer an issue.\u00a0 He has gone from 24-hour care to only needing care during the daytime.<\/p>\n
Levodopa is the most effective drug for treating Parkinson\u2019s Disease.\u00a0 Used alone, it can cause nausea but combined with carbidopa, it becomes more tolerable and more effective.\u00a0 Carbidopa prevents levodopa from being converted into dopamine prematurely, allowing more of the drug to get to the brain.\u00a0 Levodopa is the gold standard for Parkinson\u2019s treatment because it replaces the dopamine that your body no longer produces.\u00a0 Parkinson\u2019s patients typically require more Levodopa as the disease progresses, not because the body develops a tolerance to the medication, but because the therapeutic window narrows over time.<\/p>\n
Caregivers are often the first to notice when medications begin to wear off.\u00a0 Motor functions that are symptoms of a decline in Levodopa\u2019s effects include rigidity or muscle cramps, slowness of movement, tremors, poor balance, difficulty swallowing, soft speech, and difficulty with fine motor tasks.\u00a0 Non-motor signals include fatigue, anxiety, change in mood, slowness in thinking, restlessness, and pain.\u00a0 These non-motor signals that Levodopa has worn off often precede motor signals.<\/p>\n
Situations that are typical of Levodopa “off” episodes are 1) end of dose before the start of the next dose, 2) delayed on where it takes longer to absorb the medication, 3) morning when the last dose at night has begun to wear off, and 4) unpredictable off due to daily variation in stress levels, physical fatigue, etc.<\/p>\n