Dopamine - where would be if we had some

"Dopamine" 

You would think they could have found a better name for this very important neurotransmitter.  I know because I lack the stuff and so do you if you have parkinson's disease.

Dopamine is responsible for our movements (among other things) and is produced by a structure in our brains.  For some unknown reason, the brain stops producing dopamine and "bang", there goes our ability to control our movements.  The result is tremors, rigidity,  slow movements, shuffling and a whole bag of other symptoms that I won't describe because I don't want to scare you.  Needless to say, after 11 plus years of living with this dark shadow, I am still relatively normal and lead a relatively normal life.  All thanks to the drugs.

My daily drug regime involves taking a cocktail 4x a day of

      

amantadine - an anti-viral that seems to help subdue the tremor.  It is a miracle drug for me.  I am        tremor free when I remember to take the drug.

carbidopa/levadopa - which increases dopamine in the brain

mirapex -  a dopamine agonist which fools the brain into thinking there is dopamine available

I am not free of movement problems, for example. getting into and out of a bed can be a challenge.  Those damn covers conspire to keep me out.  You will eventually know what I mean.

Walking can be difficult because of festination.  Look it up.  Also because of slowness of movements

Jumping is close to being impossible,  with a couple of centimeters being my upper limit.

The oddest symptom  I have encountered is the concept of "freezing" which describes a condition where your feet seem to be stuck the ground.  You can't move.  When I first stand, I have to shuffle my feet in a circle or I will probably fall.  One thing is certain, I am not going forward until I complete this exercise.

I consider myself lucky.  Thanks to the drugs I am relatively symptom free of movement difficulties and, an even find humor in the disease:

     

             My friend died last night.  We  are not sure of the cause but we are highly suspicious because                             we found this code on his phone  99999911111111.  Investigation is continuing.

FINDING THE RIGHT combination and dosages of medications to help manage your Parkinson’s disease symptoms can be a challenge. Compounding that challenge is something called the “on-off” phenomenon, in which your meds start to wear off over time, leading to an increase in motor symptoms that can be difficult to deal with

The Role of Dopamine in Parkinson’s

Before we can really understand the on-off phenomenon of Parkinson’smedications, we have to first understand the role that dopamine, a neurotransmitter, plays in the body. 

Normally, the brain makes its own dopamine, and it aids in several important functions throughout the body, explains Jennifer S. Hui, M.D., a neurologist with Keck Medicine of University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA. “For unknown reasons, we have a loss of that neurotransmitter that leads to Parkinson’s disease,” she says. “That neurotransmitter helps with movement, and without it, movement is slowed down.”

That’s why common Parkinson’s symptoms include tremors, difficulty walking, slonessand feelings of slowness or heaviness.

The role that dopamine—well, lack thereof—plays in Parkinson’s is evident in the main treatments for the medication. The gold standard for treating Parkinson’s is a drug called carbidopa/levodopa, says Dr. Hui. This drug, and several other medications for Parkinson’s (dopamine agonists), work by increasing dopamine in the brain to help reduce those motor complications.