Sleeping from Parkinson's Medications

Posted By J.L. on July 03, 1998 at 23:18:16:







My father has had Parkinson's Disease for over 20 years.  Over the last
few years he has gotten to where he sleeps about 22 hours a day.  He
wakes up only to eat, and then goes back to sleep.  He sleeps so much that
he cannot walk alone any longer and to walk he needs assistance from two
people.  He has had many different tests and everything is fine.  If he
does not take his medication, he stays awake, but he needs the medication
for movement. He was taking Sinemet, but it quit working, so now he
is taking 3 mg of Requip, three times daily and 10 mg of Aricept at
bedtime.  We cannot get physical therapy for him to learn to walk
again, since he sleeps constantly.  We have had him to several doctors,
but no one seems to know what to do, so he can stay awake and still
function.  Do you have any suggestions?