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Parkinson’s unresponsive episodes.
Parkinson's Disease | Last Active: Jun 7 6:48am | Replies (76)Comment receiving replies
My 67 year old brother was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease 10 years ago. He recently started experiencing episodes of unresponsiveness that are increasing in frequency and duration. He has frequent hallucinations and experiences paranoia. He takes levadopa/carbidopa, Nuplazid, rivastigmine, Northera for labile blood pressure and meds for AFib, Type2 diabetes, and depression. He lives in a memory care unit due to his cognitive decline and has been sent to the hospital twice due to these episodes. The events that have been witnessed by staff start with fluttering eyelids and then no response to touch including sternal rubs or sound. His vital signs remain stable. He was admitted to the hospital the first time and all the tests were within normal limits. Upon return to his memory care unit, he had increased paranoia and hallucinations so his neurologist added Seroquel to his regime. The second time he was sent to the ER after an unwitnessed fall with a short period of unresponsiveness followed by extreme confusion. He was sent home within several hours with all tests normal. At a follow-up appointment, his neurologist did an EEG which revealed slowed brain activity but no signs of seizures. Several days ago he experienced another witnessed episode with fluttering eyelids and slumping in the recliner. Again his vital signs including blood sugar were within his normal limits. We opted to forgo a trip to the ER. This time his unresponsiveness lasted 45 minutes. Any ideas on how to handle these episodes? Should he go to the ER each time they happen?
Replies to "My 67 year old brother was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease 10 years ago. He recently started..."
My husband also has very similar episodes of unresponsiveness. It is usually very near his next scheduled dose of carb/levo. I have found that administration of Parcopa, (an orally dissolving form of carb/levo) shortens the episodes miraculously when given with orange juice. His blood pressure during his episodes is low, 80’s/30’s. It also helps to lay him flat, & elevate his feet. He is up and going within 15 minutes, alert, and ready to go. His medications are Carb/levo 25/100 q 3hrs while awake, rotigitine 2mg patch daily, aricept 15 mg in divided doses of 10& 5 given with 10 mg of memantine twice a day in the early AM & after lunch.
We have also found that 20-30 minutes with a personal trainer on an ICare elliptical 2-3 times a week is very beneficial. We recently have added a 30 minute Bowen’s massage therapy twice a week which seem to help with mobility issues. His unresponsive episodes typically increase during episodes of Any physical stress due to constipation or infections ( ie. UTI, nephritis) or emotional stress due to upsetting life events. His diagnosis was LBD with Parkinsonism in 2012. He has no other chronic diseases.
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Hello @healthsurrogate and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I can see this is a challenging decision given his stable vital signs and recovery after unresponsiveness. It seems as though having a baseline and information to compare the progression to may be helpful and also provide some insight as well.
@farmerleebs may be able to share additional information as her mother has experienced an unresponsive episode. Other members who have also mentioned unresponsive episodes include @bethv, @chuckcallahan, @mshoggie, @judithanne.
I am curious what instructions you were given or advice his doctor suggested?