Anxiety and Parkinson’s

My mother had all of that and it spanned decades. She died of PD at 94 . Her sister had it and her nephews have it and I did mountains of research on GAD having been a counselor. I realized I had that myself and got onto Effexor xr at least 25 years ago. There are papers written now and studies done, on the very real possibility that anxiety disorder is the precursor for PD. Therefore I will never go off Effexor. My two adult children are on it as well, as they both have GAD. My cousins who did not go on it, even though their mother had GAD and minimal PD, and they both now have PD , older one full blown. There is not nearly enough information out there as there should be. Robin Williams suicide due to Lewy Body Dementia from PD, the same type as my mother, was a door opening for so much information as he had severe anxiety as a child, ADHD as well and then treated for depression but not the other two. His story is painful to read but highly informative. The fact that he is Welsh like my mother and her family, was of course not lost on me either. I hope as people are lining up their meds that they include Effexor, designed especially for anxiety , and not as an antidepressant even though thats the category it often sits in!……I distinctly remember my psychiatrist saying “you are about the least depressed person I’ve ever met. You just have Generalized Anxiety Disorder so that what we are just going to treat”. Wise wise man!….It gave me a wonderful ownership of myself!!!

What is REM sleep ? My husband is 73 and was diagnosed 3 years ago. Left hands shakes.

How do you feel on the Effexor before and after you've taken it ? How long have you taken it and what strength ? My husband with PD is going for his yearly check up next month and I'm reaching out because he's making me so nervous because of this. It would be for him with his PD. Before his symptoms I was really much calmer.

REM sleep is when you go into a deep sleep, but people with the disorder don't become paralyzed while they sleep and they kick and thrash and act out their dreams. They aren't aware they do it.
I finally had to have my own room. Once when he was thrashing all over the bed while asleep I woke him up to ask what he was doing and he said he had a dream that he was running,

I've waken him up so many times and asked him that I don't even do it anymore UNLESS he seems in distress or scared like someone is after him. Does your husband take anything to help him ? Mine takes one of those gummies each night but he still twitches. UGH ! I wish we could afford a 2 bedroom apartment. We live in a retirement community with about 100 apartments and they are real nice. Love where we live. There's activities BUT he won't participate . If he does it's a miracle. Likes to sleep a lot in his Livingroom chair. Thank you for replying. Heading off to bed now. Goodnight...

My husband died suddenly with Parkinson's disease almost 3 years ago. When I complained about being kicked and hit he said that he bet someone else could sleep with him. I just laughed. Even the cat would run off when he started running in his sleep.
He took high doses of melatonin that stopped the sun downing in the middle of the night, (running outside and falling face down in the dirt ) but nothing really helped him sleep.
There are few things harder than being your husband's caretaker. I still have nightmares about it.

I feel like a million bucks! And can cope with anything without “awfulizing” it…..my word….lol……used to be that I would have anxiety that should have been about a 10 on 100 scale but my brain jacked it up to 70 and made everyone around me jacked up too! I was 40 when I went on it so have been on it for 25 years. A lot of major stuff has come my way to deal with but my husband says if the house is burning, he’s running back in for my Effexor!……gamechanger of life for me!. My first husband was an alcoholic and getting out of there with two kids and through the aftermath, left me in an anxiety state I could not bluff through anymore. My mother who had these issues for different reasons, became more anal and agitated and controlling. First signs of PD…..I have been on it 25 years and am grateful every day….my kids and Step kids are just as grateful.!… I am on 75 xr twice a day . At arising, and at 3pm. It’s a gift you can give yourself , and him……God Bless!!!

Thank you for your reply. I texed your reply to my husband. He doesn't know I've been on the group chat for PD.
Was your dosage lower when you first started ?

I bought a body pillow but haven't received it yet. Going to put between us and see if that helps. Did ya'll stop having sex ?

I'm going to add a PS. I met my husband on my 18th birthday when I arrived at college. We got married less than a year later and we were married for 58 years, most of them were happy.