New to the forum - struggling with a dear Mum's Parkinson's

Hi all

I’ve joined up out of a strong need to be able to get info & support at a time when my mum’s PD has taken a downturn. We’re all over the place with worry at the minute, tbh.

Mum has been managing living independently (with a lot of support from us family) for about 5 years. She never used to have problems taking her pills at the right time.

However, in the run up to Xmas, I noticed she was starting to take them more erratically - then she got a cold & a mild UTI & it feels like all hell has broken loose.

She’s been up at all hours, very restless, feeling agitated - and is getting night/day mixed up. We’ve been getting calls at 11pm when she thinks it’s 11am.

She’s had antibiotics which have cleared up the bug (I hope) - but is finding her PD meds (Co-Careldopa) is wearing off quickly so she’s been popping them when she feels weak.

We’ve taken over monitoring them 1st by an alarmed pill dispenser (she worked her way around that one!), then by physically hiding them.

But this morning, she’d had 2 before 9am & was pretty ‘high’. Now she’s called saying she feels just dreadful & doesn’t know what to do with herself (no doubt an overdose).

I’m 48 with MS - the only other family around are my aunt (71 & with her own health issues) & a younger brother who has serious mental health conditions.

Anyway…all of that is a bit of a splurge, I know, but it’s been a terrible fw weeks…looking forward to getting some tips on the meds issue (am going to call her PD clinic tomorrow to ask for an urgent appointment)

Cheers

1 Like

hi finrod888 don,t know if this helps but the care company that used to
care for my dad used to do what they called med calls for some service
users they were only doing that 4 times a day worth checking out all the best
Petec

Thanks Pete - that’s useful to know.

Hi Finrod888,

A warm welcome to the forum.

I’m sorry to hear that your Mother’s health has taken a downturn, it sounds like this had been an incredibly challenging time for you and your family. I thought you’d be interested to know that we have a lot of information for people caring for someone with Parkinson’s on our website that you may want to read. You can find this information here.

Alternatively, you can contact our helpline on 0808 800 0303 and speak to a Parkinson’s specialist about your Mother’s current condition and they’ll be able to advise you on the support that’s available to you both.

I do hope you find the information above useful and please feel free to let us know if you have any other questions.

Many thanks,
Reah