← Return to Living with Parkinson's Disease - Meet others & come say hi

Discussion

Living with Parkinson's Disease - Meet others & come say hi

Parkinson's Disease | Last Active: 8 hours ago | Replies (520)
Comment receiving replies
@telios

My 83 yr old wife lives with Parkinson's. Her central issue is constipation with spasms that bring on anxiety, tremors, voice whisper, rigidity, imbalance just about every morning around 9 a.m. She lies on the floor with heat pad on her tummy and after an hour the symptoms abate only to resume around 3 p.m. Her gastroenterologist prescribes Amitiza and after months of dealing with her, including a cystoscopy, can't seem to nail the exact cause of these episodes. A PT says her bowels are quite normal and suggests exercise, six glasses of water before 3 p.m. daily. When nothing works, she resorts to using a suppository which sometimes helps. Also, she has lost some 30 lbs and is now at 98 lbs.

Any suggestions on the constipation issue will be much appreciated.
Phil

Jump to this post

Replies to "My 83 yr old wife lives with Parkinson's. Her central issue is constipation with spasms that..."
Teresa, Volunteer Mentor | @hopeful33250 | Aug 20, 2021

Hello @telios and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I'm so glad that you joined this discussion group to help your wife. It sounds as if she has a lot of uncomfortable symptoms with constipation being the worst. Constipation is a problem for most of us who have PD.

If you could share a bit more I'm wondering how long ago your wife was diagnosed with PD? Have her doctors suggested anything for constipation? Many of us have found fiber supplements (like Metamucil) helpful as well as stool softeners (Miralax or Colace). I use both products daily.

We currently have a Connect discussion group all about PD and constipation. Here is the link, https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/constipation-and-parkinsons. You can read what others are saying and doing about this problem.

Also, here is an article from the Parkinson's Foundation website on the topic of constipation, https://www.parkinson.org/Understanding-Parkinsons/Symptoms/Non-Movement-Symptoms/Gastrointestinal-Issues, In this article, you will read that nausea and swallowing problems can also be a problem. Since your wife has been losing a lot of weight perhaps this is a problem for her as well?

You also mentioned that she has spasms. Are the spasms in the abdominal region?

I look forward to hearing from you again. Will you post an update?

VIEW AND REPLY