A DaTSCAN (dopamine active transporter scan) is a brain scan used to diagnose Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders. It uses a radioactive tracer that binds to dopamine transporters in the brain, allowing doctors to see how well these transporters are working.
Here’s a more detailed explanation:
Purpose:
The DaTSCAN helps differentiate between Parkinson’s disease and other conditions that can cause similar symptoms, like essential tremor or drug-induced parkinsonism.
Procedure:
A small amount of a radioactive tracer is injected into the bloodstream. This tracer binds to dopamine transporters in the brain.
Imaging:
A gamma camera is used to detect the tracer’s activity in the brain, creating an image that shows the distribution of dopamine transporters.
Interpretation:
In Parkinson’s disease, the scan often shows reduced uptake of the tracer in the basal ganglia, an area of the brain involved in movement control.
Benefits:
The DaTSCAN can provide valuable information for diagnosis and can be helpful in distinguishing between different types of movement disorders, like Parkinson’s and essential tremor, which may have similar symptoms.
Limitations:
While the DaTSCAN can be a helpful tool, it’s not a perfect test and has some limitations, such as the possibility of false positives and false negatives.
Hello JD2024 … My original diagnosis was Atypical Parkinson’s following what I was told was a positive for Parkinson’s / Parkinsonism datscan. This was the opinion of my own neurologist who was an NHS locum neurologist from Armenia, whose speciality was neuropathy and the neurologist who first looked at my datscan. My experienced Parkinson’s nurse also told me that he 100% thought my datscan showed Parkinson’s / Parkinsonism.
My original neurologist told me that Atypical Parkinson’s did not respond well to Parkinson’s medication did I want to bother taking any? Originally I agreed but changed my mind and tried two drugs, Madopar being one, that did not agree with me.
So I stopped taking both. Then he left and returned to Armenia, so my Parkinson’s nurse took over and immediately put me on Co-careldopa [Sinemet].
Before taking this drug I was unable to play Indoor Bowls two days in a row. Once I had started taking this drug I found I could play bowls every day. So I did think that the drug helped with my mobility & balance. BUT the downside was the sleep side where I developed Insomnia, RLS & started having nightmares.
Around the same time I started having A Fib attacks & was prescribed Bisoprolol, a beta blocker,. which also has the bad sleep side effects as Co-careldopa does.
Hi Steve, we’re really sorry to hear that you’re struggling to understand your GP’s update. We wanted to hop on and reassure you that you’re not alone.
It looks like others in the community are sharing their thoughts and advice, but you can also always reach out to our free and confidential helpline. Our trained advisers can offer support and advice, and you can ask to speak to one of our Parkinson’s nurses as well: 0808 800 0303.
We hope that this helps and that you’re able to receive the support you deserve.
Sending all our love, The Parkinson’s UK Moderation Team
Good afternoon Lar … You are quite correct BUT I do need to give a lot of thought to what I am going to tell him. If my answers tell him that my symptoms were less troublesome when I was on the medication he will logically diagnose that I have a mild form or Parkinson’s to enable me to continue taking the Parkinson’s drugs.
Nothing is better since I stopped taking the drugs. He expected me to sleep better having stopped these drugs which hasn’t been the case. It might be that I need to change my A Fib Bisoprolol medication if that is possible as it has the same sleep related side effects.
At my first consultation about 6 weeks ago he did a very thorough physical examination of me & found that if he discounts the “gait freezing” I have then the only slight sign of Parkinson’s is that he says I drag my right foot slightly. All the other physical tests were normal. My shoelace tying skills impressed him, he commented that someone with Parkinson’s would struggle to match my speed and dexterity.
I do agree with his findings in that my walking once I get going is normal until fatigue sets in very quickly.
I suspect I have a combination of a number of conditions that effect me. I don’t see this leading anywhere positive. I hope I am wrong.
Hi Steve,
Hope they can work out what the issues are and can help you so you can get back to bowls.
I still find being diagnosed in 5 mins with only practical testing very strange. Also find it hard to know if medication is that helpful some days I feel fine some days I don’t. Seems to be many things can impact how the symptoms are from day to day, it’s a complete minefield!!
Good luck.
Best
James
Good afternoon everyone. I have just had confirmation of my follow up appointment with my new neurologist. Booked for Thursday 19th June. So only 10 days to wait which impressed me.
I have decided to keep a record over the next 10 days till my appointment of …
How well did I sleep.
Did I dream.
Was I able to play Indoor bowls.
How did I play.
Was I fatigued after playing.
Whether my left leg is numb.
To explain why I have these headings. I think a lot of my mobility issues are down to whether I am tired. I often act out my dreams in my sleep. Last week I dreamt I was playing hockey and woke up with my heart pounding and I felt exhausted. It was as though I had really played.
My current pleasure in life is playing Indoor Bowls. Friday I went to bowls and found I was light headed, also had no coordination and I could not balance. Clearly I could not play and went home. Today I had an Indoor bowls league game. I went hoping I could physically play and I could. My team won and now have 4 wins from 4 games and sit on top of the league. I played well and feel overjoyed. It really does boost my self esteem, which as you can guess has extreme highs and lows. If I didn’t play Indoor bowls I would do nothing.
Despite playing well I finished the game exhausted with my shirt damp with sweat. Indoor bowls is less energetic than playing marbles. A game of bowls lasts 2 hours.
There are 6 players so I am only active for 20 minutes [120 minutes divided by 6 = 20 minutes].I am sitting down for 100 minutes. We play 12 ends so I have to walk
50 yards x 12 ends = 600 yards]. So not a lot of exercise but I still finish exhausted.
I bowls 36 bowls in total.
For me playing Indoor bowls measures my fitness.
Last week my left leg was numb from my knee down to my big toe. Today only my left foot’s big toe was numb, the rest of my leg is back to normal. This changes on a daily basis.
Sorry if this post is boring, I was just putting my thoughts down on paper.
The reason for this follow up appointment with this neurologist is for him to see whether my condition has changed after I had stopped my Parkinson’s medication
6 weeks ago.
I think keeping a record for the next 10 days in the way that you describe is an excellent idea and should give the consultant a really good picture of what the previous 10 days had been like for you and also how important bowls is to your wellbeing. It may be worth writing as much detail as you can - such as including times when x started and ended, or where you were anything you can think of really because this may help the consultant (and possibly you) to see patterns which can be a significant factor in planning a course of action. It may also be worth trying to do a summary of the records you have made and what you think or what questions this has raised for you because he may not be able to go over your whole record at the appt but a one page summary could be useful.
Tot
Good evening everyone … Today was not a good day but certainly not my worst. The day started with a very poor night’s sleep. I had a dream, it was not a nightmare.
I was playing golf and had played 6 holes. For some reason I decided to leave my golf clubs and trolley on the 6th tee. I carried on with my round and at some point had to go back to get my golf clubs and trolley. Of course I could not find them and walked miles and miles. The golf course was mountainous and by the look at my bed’s under sheet and duvet I had literally walked and climbed every inch of the golf course. Typical RLS of course.
The alarm woke me up and I was still very tired, but I made my way to play bowls at the 9am start. My left leg felt very numb and as there were 7 of us playing I decided to drop out and return home. 3 v 3 is a better game than 4 v 3. I probably could have played but decided not to.
As usual when I got home I thought I would lie on my bed and listen to a podcast. Within minutes I was fast asleep.
Not a great day but bowls again tomorrow. This time an 11am start so more of a lie in.
