Fifty years of age, with a multitude of health problems, he appears at the clinic to rule out parkinsonism as the cause of his tremor. Since he began using the CPAP machine to sleep, he has noticed feeling tremulous in the morning. Sometimes the symptom lasts only an hour, but occasionally the feeling stretches out to encompass the entire day. The movement disorder specialist asks what part of the body is affected. With his hand to his chest, the patient indicates he feels the vibrations occurring in his torso, and the movements feel similar to the heart palpitations he's experienced, though he has asked his wife to touch his shoulder and see whether she can detect the quivering motion, and she feels nothing.
The doctor considers this then gazes at the patient's medical history. Various practitioners have diagnosed the patient with lupus, myasthenia gravis, and multiple sclerosis- all neurological conditions. The doctor states that lupus can produce a wide range of neurological conditions, and possibly tremor. Diabetics may also experience tremor in an episode of low blood sugar or hypoglycemia, occurring due to an imbalance between insulin or diabetic medication, food consumption and level of exercise and activity. The patient is unable to exercise due to failed spinal surgery. He recounts he has put on eighty pounds because of his immobility. Diabetes as a cause of the trembling doesn't seem to fit the patient's description of the action continuing throughout the day.
The specialist relates in a study he is familiar with, people with Parkinson's disease were asked whether they experienced an internal tremor. Those that reported such a sensation all had depression in common. For people diagnosed with PD, there appears to be a correlation of that symptom and clinical depression. Though the patient lacks slowness, rigidity, and a resting tremor, a course of an antidepressant may alleviate his symptom. The medication the physician has in mind is an old-fashioned antidepressant, Doxepine. However, the medication can't be given to people with cardiac arrhythmias, which he experiences. Inderal or the generic propanalol is helpful in blocking tremor, though the medication also veils the symptoms that come as a consequence of hypoglycemia; dangerous for a diabetic who may pass out or experience a seizure when blood sugars drop too fast.
Depending upon how uncomfortable the tremor is, the physician concedes the whole class of SSRI's that include Zoloft, Paxil and Prozac are possibilities, if he would like to see whether they calm the symptom. The physician concedes the good news is the patient does not have evidence to suggest he suffers from parkinsonism.
Showing posts with label active. Show all posts
Showing posts with label active. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Undaunted
Undaunted
The patient begins explaining as soon as the doctor sits and the list is long. He thinks he's always had a tremor of the hands but now he thinks it may be worse; sometimes he has troubling controlling the mouse on the computer so the cursor sprints across the screen. He has a low body temperature, usually about 96 degrees. Another autonomic sign is erectile dysfunction..
On examination the doctor finds some rigidity in the muscles of the right arm, a hint of rigidity in the left arm but none in the wrists. His gait is fluid, with an arm swing. Facial expressions are complete. His eye movements are full, but then he has only one eye; he lost the left one when he was seven, when he accidentally stuck a knife in it. He was also hit by a car and spent a year in the hospital trying to acquire appropriate healing of the left tibia- leg bone. As a child he watched his brother die when he had a seizure and never recovered. His father died before age thirty-five and two of the patient's daughters also died. Yet he is not depressed, he's an optimist. We laugh. So much death and he is undaunted.
He is a working engineer, and he's past retirement age, at 72. Traveling he uses his Irish passport; in Libya they have negative associations about Americans and he travels a lot; India, Northern Africa... He speaks French, some Arabic, Spanish, some Italian and he used to speak Gaelic.
He worries about his enlarging waistline, and the doctor asks him whether he has had his thyroid tested. He admits the skin of his arms gets very dry, unless he uses lotion his skin flakes like the scales of a fish.
The doctor explains a study he is in which seeks a biomarker for the progression of Parkinson's disease. The patient is a wonderful candidate because he is early in the disease process, if he has Parkinson's. The only way to be sure about the diagnosis and whether he has a deficit of dopamine, is to gauge the response to levodopa.. Yet the doctor hesitates to give him medications when he functions so well, choosing instead to give him a drug thought to delay onset of symptoms, Selegiline. A prescription for physical therapy will help him form an exercise routine to keep him active.
The patient begins explaining as soon as the doctor sits and the list is long. He thinks he's always had a tremor of the hands but now he thinks it may be worse; sometimes he has troubling controlling the mouse on the computer so the cursor sprints across the screen. He has a low body temperature, usually about 96 degrees. Another autonomic sign is erectile dysfunction..
On examination the doctor finds some rigidity in the muscles of the right arm, a hint of rigidity in the left arm but none in the wrists. His gait is fluid, with an arm swing. Facial expressions are complete. His eye movements are full, but then he has only one eye; he lost the left one when he was seven, when he accidentally stuck a knife in it. He was also hit by a car and spent a year in the hospital trying to acquire appropriate healing of the left tibia- leg bone. As a child he watched his brother die when he had a seizure and never recovered. His father died before age thirty-five and two of the patient's daughters also died. Yet he is not depressed, he's an optimist. We laugh. So much death and he is undaunted.
He is a working engineer, and he's past retirement age, at 72. Traveling he uses his Irish passport; in Libya they have negative associations about Americans and he travels a lot; India, Northern Africa... He speaks French, some Arabic, Spanish, some Italian and he used to speak Gaelic.
He worries about his enlarging waistline, and the doctor asks him whether he has had his thyroid tested. He admits the skin of his arms gets very dry, unless he uses lotion his skin flakes like the scales of a fish.
The doctor explains a study he is in which seeks a biomarker for the progression of Parkinson's disease. The patient is a wonderful candidate because he is early in the disease process, if he has Parkinson's. The only way to be sure about the diagnosis and whether he has a deficit of dopamine, is to gauge the response to levodopa.. Yet the doctor hesitates to give him medications when he functions so well, choosing instead to give him a drug thought to delay onset of symptoms, Selegiline. A prescription for physical therapy will help him form an exercise routine to keep him active.
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