Hi everyone,
My dad is 66 and was diagnosed with Parkinson’s (PD) over 10 years ago. For the most part, everything has been quite positive with his Parkinson’s. He has a tremor on his left side, which now affects part of the left side of his face and his left leg.
Unfortunately, over the past 6–7 months he has been suffering really badly with anxiety, although he didn’t tell any of us about it. It’s only been in the last 2–3 weeks that he has opened up to us about just how bad it has become. I also think he may be experiencing some depression alongside it.
He has had some other health issues alongside his PD, which obviously hasn’t helped his mood. The anxiety has now become so bad that we can hardly get him to leave the house. He is constantly overthinking and worrying, and it seems to be affecting him every minute of every day.
He was started on Sertraline 50 mg on 5th August. I know it can take several weeks to have an effect, but he seems to be getting worse rather than better. His doctor has now increased the dose to 100 mg daily on 12th August, so we have been told we need to give it time to work.
I just want to take all of this away from him, but obviously I know I can’t. We are really hoping the medication will start to help and that he can get some quality of life back without feeling so anxious and overwhelmed all the time.
Has anyone else experienced severe anxiety alongside Parkinson’s? Has anyone here taken Sertraline for anxiety/depression with PD? If so, did you find it helped, and how long was it before you started noticing a difference?
