Side Effects

Most Parkinson’s patients, generally take a cocktail of pills every day; each medication with its own peculiar and varied side effects. If you’ve ever taken the time to read the paper inside the box of any medication, the long worrying list of possible side effects, is enough to scare and put anyone off from taking them at all. Yet we know the pharmaceutical companies are merely covering their well-padded behinds, should one patient in thousands happen to suffer serious consequences due to taking a particular drug.

After having an interesting and thought provoking discussion with fellow sufferers, we were pretty much in agreement that many symptoms of the disease itself, are pretty much the same as the side effects of certain medications. The question was then raised as to how does one know, what symptoms are caused by the disease itself and which are a result of side effects from the medications?

To give you an example; fatigue is a common symptom of Parkinson’s, yet is also mentioned as a side effect on some Parkinson’s medications!  In my opinion, the bottom line is – that it’s not possible to know. Therefore if it is not clear what is the cause of fatigue, dizziness etc., how can a neurologist effectively treat a patient? In other words; what is worse, suffering the symptoms of Parkinson’s or the side effects of the medications? 

Wishing you all happy holidays, seasonal greetings, and invite you to read my article "There's No Room At The Inn" in The Huffington Post.