It's easy to blame it on the medication but I am getting awful heads now like vertigo and all though I get out and about it is very upsetting. I'm almost 73 (26th) and have had pd for 8 years. My medication is:- 1 Azilect 1mg a day 4 times 3mg ropinirole 4 times Sinemet 12.5mg/50mg I also take propanolol 40mg twice a day. The latter I have forgotten if it's to keep my blood pressure down or help with the tremors which aren't too bad. Regarding the propanolol,I would prefer not tto take it or reduce the dose. I do suffer from anxiety but try to control it.Back in 1975 I got agorophobia and although I learned to get along with it ,the damn condition still makes me anxious when out say shopping with the wife.This of course may be the reasons for my head spinning like a top. Anyone else got a washing machine head and how do you cope?
Cowboy101 here, Sounds to me that your agorophobia is causing your washing-machine head, not the medication, all you can do is have a good natter with your G.P. or consultant about the situation, describing how you feel and see what more they can come up with! Sorry if I`m only telling you stuff you knew already, but I`m not enough of a medical man to offer any concrete advice, all the same my wife and I wish you the very Best of Luck and hope you come up with some solution. Regards Cowboy101.
First of all Blood pressure and blood pressure meds can also affect your balance .
As for Agoraphobia I can certainly speak from experience . Thankfully I am now in a much better place as far as that is concerned , ALTHOUGH as you rightly say it is never far away from your thoughts/anxieties.
I suffered with it for many many years , until I came across a Dr Claire weekes , I first saw her on the lunchtime programme Pebble Mill at ONE . So you can tell how old I am . lol ..
I listened to her and couldn't wait for the next week she was on . I thought she was talking about me . So my husband got her book from the library , I couldn't go myself to get it . Rareley left the house . One of her books was just called " Self help for nerves " by Dr Claire Weekes . She was Australian ..
I read and read it and then started to practice the breathing exercises . I can't say it happened over night but I started to try and remember the exercises when /if I was faced with a sticky panicky situation . I could hardly go from one room to another .
So do you think it is possible that your woosy ,vertigo heads may be caused from hyperventilating .. Please have a go and try using the breathing method ..
It is n't medication so doesn't have any side effects , and it might even help with the Parkinsons when you feeze .
I am not the one who has Parkinsons but my husband does and I get him to use it when Needed.
Thanks Cowboy101 and Johnnie for your posts. It's more of a nuisance but if it is the aggy, I need to confront it or else it tries to take over.No matter where I am, I find if I sit still or even driving in my car with my head not bobbing about, I feel okay.I also have alot of worry about my wife who has had a throat condition which affects her speech. She has seen several medics but they cant find the problem.Our youngest daughter went through an acrimonious divorce just over a year ago and that coincided with the voice problem. She never talks about the divorce and bottles things up also she has the worry about my condition. She is a very fit lady and we are very close so my worry for her is not helping. There are times when you just feel helpless,not for me but for her, she is an amazing woman. All the best those having a bad time.
In case you come back Johnnie, I have bought the Claire Weekes book "Essential Help for your Nerves" let's hope it cdoes what it says on the Cover. thanks again.All the best to your husband.
Hope you get some help from reading the book . I think I was lucky that I came across her on the TV all those years ago . I found listening to her was so easy and I couldn't wait for her to come back on the following week . Missed her when her programme finished . I have reccommended her book to a few people who have found it useful Good luck . I won't happen overnight but I use it like a crutch when needed . ( Which unfortunately is more often with the even t of my husbnads Parkinsons .
You have had some very good advice from the previous posts but just in case it isn't the reason perhaps you could mention it to the doctor when you go as PD drugs do lower the blood pressure so it worth asking them about it. One of the problems my husband had was blurred vision and this is quite common in pwp's I am not sure if it is the drugs or the pd I am afraid as we have had so many other problems we haven't pursued that one. One of the other problems is that he was always having fillings for is teeth and in the end he asked them to take them all out thinking it would be easier, sadly no, the problem now is the home keeps losing the darn things. best of luck vivian
Thanks Johnnie and Vivian for your replies. I've been on sinemet CR as well as the above and I am getting alot of body trembling,especially when I'm cold. While I was at the Consultants I got an attack of the tremors as I was impressing upon him my ability to drive.Today 28th October, I am still waiting for my licence at 73.He has given me a thumbs up as has my GP. Anyone else having same problem with DVLA? I do have bad anxiety and my wife has to see a neurologist this Thursday (1st November)for slow speech and throat disturbance. Life is life,I am praying all is well.
Your mention of "Washing Machine Head" strikes a cord with me. For many years before my pd, which was Jan this year, and I'm 59, I suffered bad constant woosey heads, and I don't know how I survived, and although a very professional and caring GP, it was always put down to depression. Well, at least, has we know, depression is prevalent to Parkinson's, but it did take a long while to get to the pd, and at least people can now understand why my symptoms where part of my life and not my life style, and, what effect the undiagnosed symptoms had actually had, and how much they had taken their toil of my presence whilst I was in peoples company. Medication has helped me remarkably, Ropinirole. I deem myself fortunate has I read of the many who voice the un-pleasantries they experience on the forum. I do still occasionally have off days and a washing machine head still haunts me, some times I put it down to the Ropinirole and its side effects, but they are now less regular and I feel the pressure of people having knowledge of my Parkinson's helps take the strain out of communication.
As for your mention of the DVLA, I had a long wait for my 3 year medical restricted driving licence to be dispatched, and my advice to you is, if your consultant has passed your application, the DVLA will process it accordingly, eventually.
I find that with the parkinson's diagnosis I have entered a new stage in life and with improved health I'm able to do things, especially with my family, that because of the dreaded washing machine head syndrome, my life was taken over. It's done me the power of good to discuss these points on the forum and at long last, I've found an acquaintance who I can also put a term to the experience of having, a "Washing Machine Head".
Try not to worry Bigbee, anxiety and stress to parkinson's are taboo, and its easy to shout about it but I've developed a zero tolerance approach to these conditions and find that coping without them helps remarkably. I hope you don't feel that I'm trying to preach too you, but like you, washing machine head's because of physical and mental fatigue at work ruined many years of my life.
I hope the professionals who contribute to the forum with their excellence, can use the term as an understanding of some ones symptoms, who might, like myself, have endured many years of not being able to describe how a constant woosy head may actually relate to a persons symptoms.
Keep the faith Bigbee, and best of luck with the DVLA,
I had a couple of bouts of spinning head and it was diagnosed as labrynthitis; nothing to do with PD! On 3 occasions I was so dizzy I had to stay in bed for 3 days on one of those occasions unable to go on holiday. Labyrinthitis is an infection of the middle ear where balance resides. It feels like being very drunk (without having any fun on the way)
Thanks Cowboy101 and Johnnie for your posts. It's more of a nuisance but if it is the aggy, I need to confront it or else it tries to take over.No matter where I am, I find if I sit still or even driving in my car with my head not bobbing about, I feel okay.I also have alot of worry about my wife who has had a throat condition which affects her speech. She has seen several medics but they cant find the problem.Our youngest daughter went through an acrimonious divorce just over a year ago and that coincided with the voice problem. She never talks about the divorce and bottles things up also she has the worry about my condition.