My husband has Parkinson’s and 10 days ago we had to suddenly put our beloved dog to sleep. We are both very upset but we have also noticed that my husband’s Parkinson’s symptoms since then have worsened. We will speak with his PD nurse in the new year but I just wondered if anyone else has had any experience of this? Many thanks
Hello Polly5
First I must say how sorry I was to hear of the recent painful decision you had to make to have your dog pts. Unless you have had the joy of sharing your life with a pet many find it difficult to understand why it is so upsetting, but the grief is as palpable as any human loss. It is probably made worse as this was a sudden decision, with no or little time to prepare. I hope you can take some comfort in that your actions were in the best interests of your dog, however hard for you and it is the last kindness you can do for a much loved animal.
That said, it is no surprise to me that this has caused your husband’s symptoms to worsen. It is well known that stress and anxiety can have a negative effect on one’s Parkinson’s symptoms and the emotional fallout you are both experiencing will be a contributory factor. In all probability with the passage of time you will be able to remember all, the good things and memories your dog has left you with and the high emotion associated with his passing will gradually fade and hopefully your husband’s symptoms will lose this deterioration caused by the recent sad event. Grief is grief whoever you are, but in Parkinson’s the impact can often present very clearly in deterioration of symptoms that generally well people don’t have. I believe that is what you are seeing now, but it may take sometime to work through and hopefully with no significant lasting problems.
Once again, my sympathy on your loss.
Tot
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Hi Polly5, I would say I echo what Tot has posted, we lost our second dog who had been with us for just over 14 years on 14Dec and completely relate to this. Stress and anxiety I have found has been a definate trigger in symptoms impacting mainly on sleep which then in turn on everything else. She was part of our family for a long time, my chidlren came home to say their goodbyes a few weeks earlier as I felt she would not be with us for xmas, and whilst we had time to prepare it made it no easier. The house feels so empty now and has left such a void. Like any loss it’s hard to talk about but sometimes not talking can be harder. I am trying to remember the happy times, the holidays with them, and know that they were loved. My thoughts are with you both 
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