Could my Husband have PD?

Hi, i am not quite sure where to post this, but i am so worried about my husband. First off I am disabled with MS 63. I have help during the week, and cope really well. Part of my history, my grandfather had PD, and my father had lupus and a neurological disorder not diagnosed by the time of his death.

So I am not a stranger to how PD affects people.

Going back to my husband. He is 69 still works and has COPD. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Yes he still smokes.

He is a very fine engineer but now too ill to travel so is office based.

Over the last five years he complained several times of struggling with his hands. His left in particular he couldnt hold an item whilst using the screwdriver and lost feeling in his fingers and had pain in his wrist. Anyway the doctors diagnosed Carpal tunnel and operated. He still cant feel 2 of his fingers in this hand and had developed a small tremor in this hand. I just ignored it so did he.
 

He does get a lot of chest infections and is always ill, but of late i would say in the last six months he is declining rapidly but the symptoms are different.

I noticed a change in his mood very depressed, and he seems confused a lot. He is constantly cold, and will sit on top of our gas fire, then the next minute he is sat in our conservatory with the door wide open in the cold complaining he is too hot.

He is constantly tired out and has been falling asleep at work, and when he pops home from work he has to sleep. (He has been checked for diabetes all ok).

He struggles somedays to even speak and swallow and came home the evening and his voice was so low i could hardly hear him. He said he had been struggling with his voice all day. I am struggling to hear him now as he talks so low and i have bad hearing anyway i miss a lot of what he says. I said to him why cant you talk properly he said he struggles to swallow and speak at the same time or something....not sure what he means.

In the last 8 months i noticed his hands shaking both of them, just discernable, and he said it was starting to get on his nerves and it was taking him ages to do things.

In the last month i would say this shaking has got so bad I had to literally cut his toast for him. 2 days ago he was holding the T.V. remote and it flew out of his hands. He was trying to repiar a remote yesterday and his hands just shook constantly. This has been noticeable like I said more in the last month i suppose and yesterday his hands just shook and shook and for 2 days he has jerks now too. It gets worse if he extends his wrist and you can see his hands shaking. He also told me the right one shakes when he is sat quiet watching the t.v.

He has been complaining at night he cant sleep, because he gets leg cramps. During the day he walks like an old man and is kind of bent over when he is walking and he walks like a 90 year old man.

He has lost tons of weight, is 5ft 11, and now weighs 8st 6lb. He says he has no appetite and sometimes finds food hard to swallow and it all tastes funny.

His balance is scaring me. I have poor balance, but he beats me. He couldnt even put his jeans on the other morning and he fell over thankfully he landed on the chair. When he gets up he wobbles all over the place and has to grab onto things.

There are other issues the fatigue is bad, his memory is terrible, he is changing personality and seems somedays to be a bit confused. He has also developed urinary urgency and complains constantly he is constipated.

Now I have begged and begged him to see the doctor for the last month he refuses. He looks old and frail and even my family are shocked at his appearance, and his son came over the other day and was shocked too, as he hadnt seen him in about 4 weeks and he was amazed at the change in him in such a short time.

I expect you are wondering why i am here, but he reminds me so much of my grandad when he was in late stages of his PD. Its shocking me and scaring me.

Could he have Parkinsons? Whatever it is it seems to be rapid right now. I know he gets really bad bronchitis but i have never seen him like this.

When i look back there are lots of little signs over the last 5 years but always put down to his COPD.

I need him to go to doctors. I was almost pulling my hair out watching him struggle yesterday with this remote this is an engineer who can fix anything, spent ages trying to fix this remote because of the shaking. I have noticed things do take him so much longer to do, although some of that is his COPD as he cant breath very well.....but his actions seem very slow.

I am on the verge if he has another bad attack i might just ring the ambulance but feel that would be wasting valuable resources. I CANT FORCE him to see the GP. He simply wont go.

Any advice would be so welcomed. Maybe I am way off base on this and i know yhou will be able to tell me if i am or not, and if i should force an issue for his own safety. I am worried he will fall and hurt himself.

Funny enough 2 years ago he came into my bedroom at night and said his back hurt. I made him turn around and he had the biggest bruise on his back i have ever seen. i asked him what on earth had he done he had no clue. I got him to hospital and he had broken a rib. In the morning i found in the sitting room a broken vase it looks like from the evidence he had a black out or something or fell and hit the low table hard. We have had another one of these black outs. Are they part of it? I dont know.

I hope someone can help me, this is stressing me out and making my MS so much harder to cope with, i cant sleep for worrying about him. I totally appreciate your not doctors but you might recognise some of the symptoms.

Thank you so much for reading my essay. MERRY XMAS and thank you again for taking the time to read this. GG51.

 

I am not a doctor.  Some of your husband`s symptoms sound like my OH`s but that doesn`t mean your OH has Parkinson`s.  You are right, he needs to see a doctor. 

Maybe he is afraid to visit the GP because he fears he may have PD but once he is on the right medication he will feel so much better he will regret not going sooner.

Is there some-one else in your family or a close friend who might persuade him to see a doctor?  Failing that perhaps you will have to call out the ambulance next time.  When they had to come out to my OH they asked such questions that they would uncover the long standing problems and then I would hope that it would lead to a follow up and a diagnosis. 

Best wishes to you both for Christmas and for a happy resolution to this problem

Hatknitter

 

 

Hi there thank you for your replying. I sat him down this morning and had a long talk with him. Its getting ridiculous watching him struggle to do things, he simply cant hide it anymore.  I have found out this morning he has been struggling for months at work, finding it difficult to write, and sometimes even speak....

it came to head this morning when he tried to write a simple shopping list and his hands were shaking so bad he couldnt do it. Thats when i decided enough was enough.

I never mentioned Parkinsons to him, but he said to me he was worried to go to the doctors as he is scared he might have Parkinsons....so we had a long chat about it. I told him lots of new drugs out there, and letting it go on for so long (months i didnt even know about he has been hiding it), its got to the stage where he simply cant hide it anymore and is scared.

We have discussed its time he retired too he is 69 but he loves his job. He does have a lot of stress there and that doesnt help.

So he has agreed to see the doctor after christmas and i will go with him.

In the meantime i shall just make sure he is safe. I do worry he might fall whilst i am not about as i have to go to bed early and he is on his own. His balance can be really bad but he has assured me he will use all my hand rails when walking around the house.

He is so thin. He told me he struggles to eat because somedays he finds it hard to swallow and he is scared of choking. MEN honestly what can I say. Anyway hopefully now he has come to his senses, and we can get him sorted out.

Thank you again. xx

 

Hi Goldengirl51

I wonder who the other 49 are?

I do hope you manage to have a peaceful Xmas and get some advice and help in the New Tear.

Good luck!

Original goldengirl

Go to your doctor.

Explain your concerns.

Make an appointment with your doctor to see your husband; ask for a home visit if necessary.

If the doctor sees your husband and is concerned he will refer your husband to a specialist who can give a diagnosis.

If this doesnt happen and you are still concerned look into getting a second opinion or changing your doctor.

The same advice goes for anyone who thinks they have PD or are concerned about anyone else.

Until a person is diagnosed with PD any advice other than sympathy is at best wasted at worst detrimental to their condition.

If you are diagnosed with PD then educating yourself about it in the broadest manner possible is the best way.  This includes advice from patients as well as medical professionals.

Dont be afraid to challenge anyone if you think your PD is not being treated correctly. 

Your life is as important as anyone elses and you deserve the best treatment for your condition.

However, be aware that the nature of PD is such that medical professionals require good feedback from PWP so as to give the best advice and to treat your condition.  

Doctors cant know everything though and somethings are easier to discuss with other PWPs, as direct experience can be beneficial. Though it should be stressed, that any proposed medication and/or  lifestyle changes should always be referred to a medical professional before they are embarked upon.

The above is my opinion as a patient.

I agree, I would urge you to go along with you're husband to youre  GP.  im no doctor, but there are far more serious conditions out there with the symptoms you describe than parkinsons. I hope you get the answers you need soon.  Wishing you all the very best x