Hi Peachybum - I see what you mean as in my dreams I never have PD. So in waking up you are transitioning back to reality. Embrace those moments!!! All the best to you.

sometimes when i first awake my shaking is almost nothing, but other times when i first wake up my left arm shakes horribly,

My tremors are the worst right when I wake up. I think the dopamine is completely gone at that point in my brain. I guess I drain my brain dry with all my nightmares and dreams I get every night----I am so sick of having that. I am not even on any meds yet---I can only imagine what they would do to me.

barbie, i am not on meds yet either but i am feeling now that i really need something! my normal lifestyle has left me to a extremely tired, unbalanced, very slow movement and a lot of trembling and weakness. i feel useless.last night i woke from a nightmare, which is not normal for me and my left arm was shaking llike a earthquake was in my body! is this normal for pd?

I have no or very few symptoms for about 15 minutes when I wake up in the morning. That's the way I feel from my point of view. I'm not sure about another's view. I believe it's called sleep benefit.

Hubby wakes up with no tremors, until he talks, then it starts, I find myself reaching over to cuddle up for those few moments and just feeling how it used to be. This is not something I share with him, it is my own little treasured moment. Perhaps he is feeling the same, sometimes, silence is a nice thing.

I feel the same as you do PhilGs, no symptoms for at least 15 minutes. I take my last sinamet pill at 6pm , sleepy time bed for me at around 9.30, wake up at 5.30.

Gosh for the rest of you who are not on medication. WHY?? Why are you waiting. I want quality of life NOW. My meds work fantastically , most of my day is near enough to normal

Perfectly normal for those 15 minutes between half a wake and nearly awake, how l cherish those moments, and try to make them last.

Stupid crap PD wins physically. I win mentally

peachybum----I choose to not take meds because I know from research and having several drs tell me they only work for a time and then it gets way worse. This disease is not the worst thing I have had happen to me in my life. I do not want other meds to interfere with my thyroid meds because that would send me into a complete spiral both mentally and physically. Thyroid disease is my primary concern right now. That little organ in the neck totally controls the whole body believe it or not.

Barbie, in an earlier post you complained that the doctors can't confirm a diagnosis of p.d with you. if you take p.d meds, they can confirm or rule it out. What if you don't have p.d but instead something curable? It is worth a try to find out, your life can improve!

P.D will progress anyway, with or without meds. The time will come (if you have p.d) that you cannot cope without meds, and by then it will have progressed so much that meds won't make much of a difference anyway. I agree with Peachy, take the meds. Your choice... which i respect even though in a previous post of yours you called us med-takers "pill-poppers" (the term of course excepting thyroid meds...)

Coltaine----which post was that where I said that you were "pill-poppers" --- please let me know. I don't like to be accused of something that I don't recall saying. If you can't find the post I made then it is best to keep your mean comments to yourself. Everyone has the choice with PD to take meds or not and that is really THEIR business. Perhaps you don't really have PD either and it could be something else and you maybe are ruining your brain and body taking them----ever thought of that ?

ela---- sorry you are having so many symptoms. I had a neurologist want me to try the meds but then another one and my internal med doctor told me to wait until a later stage. They both told me that too many people take them too soon and have to keep increasing them and finally they quit working. That is what is wrong with Michael J. Fox --- check out his book he wrote, he talks about it in there.

So I am skeptical and going slow with this. One thing I will say, there sure are some strange neurologists out there---they say they treat PD but then I was told at my PD support group which ones to stay away from----what a circus ! Take care of yourself and hope you can get some help.

Reply 13, thread 'DX pd last week. Barbie, do or don't take meds, i honestly don't care. I am losing the battle with p.d. It stole my youth, i wasn't even 30 yet when it started and i am giving advice from experience. That is all it is, advice. Yes, i get frustrated to hear when people don't take meds and then complain about symptoms, it sounds masochistic to me, but that is just my opinion. I have no energy to debate this, and wish everyone relief for this awful disease.

Here is what I wrote in #13 of that post:
So true Coltaine----just that some of us use drugs for the treatment and some of us prefer to go the exercise route or find alternative methods. Just because someone does not use meds does not mean their symptoms are milder than someone popping pills. Everyone has their own choice, but the facts are the facts about meds. Doctors have access to many more comparisons of groups of patients then we do where they can give out accurate info about the side effects.

Coltaine----have you ever been tested for Lymes Disease? There is alot of research out there suggesting that when people are diagnosed with PD at a young age that it could be Lymes Disease. This is something new that is being studied. I was tested for it several times over along with tons of other tests to rule out everything else. By the way----I did not call you a "pill-popper" in that you were taking tons of any kind of pills. I just meant putting pills in your mouth as in "popping pills" (below) .

I will die if I don't take pills for my thyroid it is a much more serious disease then PD --- so I guess you could call me a "pill-popper" who is "popping pills" for my thyroid ---- I could care less if you do. I am the one that has control over that disease and I have done tons of research to get the right meds that the drs do not know at all how to treat. There are thousands suffering with thyroid problems needlessly at the hands of incompetent drs.

Even if I take the meds for PD ---- it only treats the symptoms and does not cure the disease (as you know). So why should I risk all the side effects of the pills? I think people are just way to trusting of drs when they tell them to YEP----pop pills for everything these days. I am skeptical of drs and prefer to tread lightly with meds and chemicals in my body.

Sorry that you do not feel well with PD but that does not give you the right to jump on someone and criticize them either. That is an excuse to abuse people and I for one do not like that so don't do it to me or anyone else. Thank you very much............

My DIL's mom did not take meds in the first place, because of the same reasons cited here, that it would make her worse, not better and side effects. She decided to tough it out and not have the side effects. When the tremors got really bad, she decided that not functioning at all was not the way to go, but by then, it was too late. She has advanced PD and although she has tried many different meds, she cannot get control. The neurologist told her she should have also gone on them much earlier.

Of course, if someone is having no symptoms, then they probably won't need to take meds. I know several people with high sed rates, but they don't seem to have any symptoms of Rheumatoid Arithritis. So there are anomalies which seem to point to certain diseases, but without symptoms, the people do not have the disease, just markers or indicators. Unlike me, who without meds cannot lift the blankets off my bed in the morning, dress myself or feed myself without very strong meds, with terrible side effects. I choose quality of life over quantity.

As far as thyroid being a more serious disease, I have been on Synthroid for 13 years, and never had a side effect or a problem. My mom has been on Synthroid for 45 years and never had a side effect or problem. My daughter has been on Synthroid for 6 years, my sister 7 years and neither of them has had any side effects. A couple of cousins and aunts with it, and one aunt with hyperthyroidism and on meds with no symptoms.

I find it quite funny that someone would think thyroid disease is more serious than PD. Of course, if someone has no PD symptoms and they are using some kind of internet remedy for the hypothyroidism rather than tried and tested meds, probably the disease isn't under control. Which I admit can be quite serious. Say like that pork thyroid substitute I read about.

Six years ago I need a step up from 75mg Synthroid to 100 mg, and I confess it did make my RA much worse. However, within 2 days of being on 100 mg Synthroid, which has not changed in dosage since then, my flares were gone.

Just before I close I want to share one of my funniest moments on DS. A person recommended I should join the Hyperthyroid forum. I went there, and there were all kinds of posts about how terrible a disease it was. I laughed so hard I nearly split a gut. One pill once a day and total control for the rest of your life. Compared to RA, asthma, bipolar disorder (which I have) or PD which my DIL's mother is nearly dead from, to say nothing of some of my closest friends from here suffer from.

Well, I just have to wonder if hypochondria is related to untreated hypothyroidism?

Sorry if I came on to strong in that post. i meant no offense. I just had a 6 hour infusion of Rituxan, a cancer drug for my RA. They start the day with 100 mg of prednisone by IV, which really revs me up. So I hope I did not insult or offend and of my friends with PD.