Three years ago I was diagnosed with early Parkinson's disease. I was
working on a production line for Johnson Controls and was sent home
with uncontrollable shaking.
I went to family Doctor who made the first diagnoses and consulted
with a local Neurologist. The neurologist prescribed a drug and
set-up an appointment 6 weeks later to see me. I took this drug,
Sinemet for those six weeks and then went to see this Neurologist. He
confirmed that I did indeed have early Parkinson's disease and
switched me to a drug called Mirapex.
Long story short! It is now three years later. After being treated
with this drug for this entire time I was almost dead. In May of 2003
I was falling asleep while driving. I would suddenly wake up to find
that I was setting at a stop light and people were honking for me to
move. I returned to my job and could not even tell my boss her name.
I stopped taking the drug that very day. My Neurologist was called
and his nurse said that this was "ok" because I was to see him the
next week. This was on a Thursday and by the next Tuesday I was in
such a state of depression that I was ready to kill myself.
It has taken me two months to recover from the withdrawal. I have not
taken a Parkinson's drug since that day in May. Not only have all my
"Parkinson's" symptoms gone away, but I have gained back everything
physically that I had lost while on this drug.
I have letters that my Neurologist sent to my family Doctor stating
that my condition was getting worse. In these letters he states that
I am losing more and more of my physical abilities and that he is
going to increase the dose of Mirapex to see if it will help. I was
so over drugged that I had:
Gained 70 lbs.,
Was walking with a cane because I was falling,
It almost killed me.
If you are still on it and it is working great. Just wanted to know
if anyone else has had the experience that I've had.