For those who care for someone with Parkinson's disease
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I am new here. Hello everyone!  My mother in law has been diagnosed with parkinsons. It aches my heart because I came late in the family through divorce and when I came, she had just lost her ability to speak. from what i know of her she is the most precious lady. I have a question that even her doctor couldn't give me an answer for....SHE CAN SPEAK PERFECTLY WHEN SHE IS ASLEEP.... Why can she not when she is awake? Has anyone else experienced this??
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Welcome, Kay. I have no idea about this, but I do nightly listen to my husband talk in his sleep. I will be interested to see if anyone here has had experience. Take care and welcome. |
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Hello Kay, Here is a theory--in PD tremors are not present during sleep. The weird thing about PD (one weird thing) is that it is not a muscle disease. It is a disease that interferes with the signals from the brain that regulate movement (such as moving, starting and stopping, and staying at rest). The muscles aren't affected in themselves, but the brain gives messed up signals and the body reacts over time to those messed up signals. For example the slumping isn't because of problems in muscle and spine, but because the brain's messages that help us know when we are standing up straight are not being property transmitted, and over time the muscles weaken because they aren't being used in the proper way. The circuits that are affected by PD to cause tremor are dormant during sleep. I suspect that the same thing is true of the bradykinesia (stiffness & rigidity) and so forth -- that the PD pathology that causes the stiffness is dormant during sleep. If this is so, then the speech system, which in itself is not damaged, is able to function without the interference of PD's "nervous system static." Just a guess |
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| Interesting theory Violet, We have at the base of the brain a "switch" that blocks movement while we sleep otherwise we would be up acting out dreams and nightmares. The brain receives a constant stream of information 24/7 if not it replays our day over in "dreams". Stiffness is common in Parkinson's while sleeping that is why so many patients cannot turn over in their sleep and need assistance to turn over. You're close when you say circuits that are affected by P.D. It is the gaps between the synapses where P.D. is the culprit. Dopamine is the fuse that fits between the synapses allowing the impulse, directions or intention to flow through the circuit and complete the task. That is why We patients have to take L-Dopa to replace this lack (shortage) of Dopamine that our brains can no longer produce due to the death of our dopamine manufacturing cells. And as more of those cells continue to die we have to take more and more dopamine to make up for the ever increasing lack of the Dopamine. P.D. as far as I know doesn't result in "nervous system static" It would be more like a dead telephone line. But it is an interesting theory to look at thanks for posting it. |