Chapter 140 - A Medication Change

On Thursday an appointment for both of us with our local GP to replenish prescriptions. We expected no surprises. She may have been tremoring more than the GP usually sees. He reached for some literature, saying "There is some new medication ...." not knowing that we have read the literature, knew some on it and had queried the Caring Physician about it, known as Sifrol here in Oz. He prescribed the lowest dosage 125 uG 3 times a day. The chemist had none in stock so I needed to return the next day for it.

She took the first Sifrol at 10pm Friday night. She rose for the loo 6 times between 11pm and 6am meds on Saturday. A burning sensation from her feet up to her knees, the remainder of her was cold. When she lay on her back, her neck & shoulders were stiff although her head vibrated. She saw small spiders on the wall near the curtains but she knew they were hallucinations because they disappeared when she closed one eye. In consequence she had little sleep, three times through the MP3 player was no help. She felt unstable at 8am when she rose. Even so, she asked me to take 2 loads of washing out to the laundry where she put them through the machine. The Kids arrived for lunch. She enjoyed being with the three grandchildren.

During Saturday she took Sifrol in addition to Sinemet CR at 6am, 2pm & 10pm. That night, she only rose 4 times and the MP3 helped her to return to sleep. No problems showering, washing hair & dressing. There were no shakes at all & her balance was OK at 9:30am. Then a little before 11am some shakes that subsided after which she felt chilly and restless for an hour. By 2pm she felt really good so she sorted through the paperwork for our trip next December, but by 3pm was very tired so laid down with bad tremors. She had asked to be woken within the hour so I did, then she stayed in bed another half hour. Then she watched a strange cartoonish item at the end of a Doris Day DVD and that seemed to trigger an eye sight problem. Her right side peripheral vision began to "shimmer" at a distance of about 1 metre from the centre about 2 metres in front of her (I moved my finger across the front of the TV until it reached the point at which the shimmering began), As far as I could interpret, this was a similar effect to that which doctors have diagnosed as a form of migraine when it has happened to me. Her blood pressure was 130/80 75 at the time. The effect lasted about 30 minutes and her balance was off, then a shake free evening.

Another wakeful night followed, rose 4 times, head tingling then "crawling", her body felt "alive". She turned repeatedly in bed. She slept well after 6am. We attended the First of the Month Lunch at the hall and she was OK except for some shakes. She found her weekly physio Falls Group much less of a struggle during the afternoon.

Last night 4 trips to the loo, restless, little sleep until after 4am. She was up to attending the funeral of our neighbour at the Cathedral which was filled to overflowing. We were fortunate to find some rickety chairs in a side chapel otherwise she would not have been able to stay to remain standing for the length of the service. She was a little puffed walking back to the vehicle, a few hundred metres away up a hill, with 3 or 4 brief rest stops.

Tonight we have decided she will skip Sifrol at 10pm. Apart from the weird side effects, Sifrol seems to have reduced her tremors, stiffness and her outlook seems brighter.