Parkinson's and DBS Specialist in Sydney

The core features of Parkinson’s Disease (PD), namely slowness, stiffness and shakiness, typically respond well to medication. However, PD progresses with time and the response to medications often becomes complicated by motor fluctuations (where the benefit of each dose of medication lasts only for as little as an hour) and dyskinesias (excessive involuntary movements). Patients fluctuate between OFF (medications not working, very stiff and immobile) and DYSKINESIAS (excessive involuntary movements) and very little quality ON time (medications working, mobile). Careful adjustments of medications can sometime help, but may not fix the problem, and the motor fluctuations and dyskinesias continue to reduce quality of life.

The most common reason to have DBS is to control motor fluctuations and dyskinesias. Other reasons include tremor that is resistant to medication, and inability to tolerate medications due to other side effects (e.g., severe L-DOPA induced sleepiness). Other options for treating motor fluctuations and dyskinesias include daytime infusion of apomorphine using a programmable pump connected to a needle that is inserted each day.

To learn more about treatments for Cervical Disc Protrusion click on one of the following link: