Saturday, May 11, 2013

Stiff man

I evaluated a patient yesterday with advanced Parkinson’s disease.

Dyskinesia (the presence of involuntary movements) is a well known complication of long term levodopa therapy.

The dyskinesias are often considered more bothersome to the family members (and health care providers) than they are to the patients.

One possible way to lessen the extent of dyskinesia is a levodopa dose reduction. However, this often results in worsening of parkinsonism symptoms and increasing “off” periods.

It’s important to remember that patients often prefer the mobility associated with dyskinesias to the immobility associated with no dyskinesias.

Try standing frozen like this for awhile…most will find it’s not a whole lot of fun!

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