I was diagnosed with Parkinson 18 months ago, I am taking Co-Benel Dopa 150mg 5 times a day along with Entracapone 200mg 5 times a day. over the last few months the medication seems to be wearing off quicker and i have stated to suck my teeth/gums and have difficulty eating and swallowing. Has any body else experienced this as i dont now if it is the medication causing it or the Parkinsons. I have mentioned this to my specialist and he says he hasnt come across this before.

Thankyou Boothy

hi boothby
i am sorry to hear about the problems you are having. just to let you know you are not being ignored, just there may not be anyone active on this site with the same set of problems. if your specialist cant explain whats going on perhaps you need a new specialist?
best wishes

Hi Boothy

Sorry to hear about your difficulties, It must be very worrying for you. I have not been diagnosed for long so have't experienced any of your symptoms yet, do you have a PD nurse you can try, they can be really helpful. There is also another forum you could try called PD Junction (just google it). again, full of lovely people to chat to who may have the answers you are looking for.

Caroline.

Hi Boothy

Sorry to hear of your swallowing problems. They are not uncommon. I think you should get your neurologist or Parkinson's Nurse to refer you to a speech therapist. They deal with swallowing problems as well as speech. They might give you a swallowing test where they look at how you swallow using xrays and they capture it on video. There may be some exercises that can help.

Hi,

I'm new to the forum, and fairly new to Parkinson's (1 year)--I can relate I think, I'll describe it and you can see whether it's of any use: not right at the beginning but ca. 0.5 yr since diagnosis I started having problems I never had--swallowing the wrong way when eating and/or drinking, problems swallowing pills (I'm an excellent pill-swallower normally) and--scary--aspirating my own spittle accidentally for no reason, and scariest--sometimes this happened when I was asleep I i.e. I woke up choking.
In my case I am absolutely convinced it is a symptom of Parkinson's, as it did not coincide with the medication but rather tended to happen when the meds (Sinemet and Comtan) wore off.
At the same time I started unconsciously moving my jaw, clenching,almost gnashing teeth...that's not quite what you describe but somewhat close...
Good news: The swallowing the wrong way has disappeared entirely (!) by a) paying special attention to how I eat and drink [if choking breathing very shallowly to get air into the lungs and then eject via coughing the liquid/food] b) I have now meds instead 3x 4x daily and if the gnashing starts I take a small interim dose or bring one of the 4 forward...
It seems to me that the symptoms can wander a bit/are fluid/not cast in stone? Knock on wood, but I haven't swallowed the wrong way in 2011 at all as far as I can remember

best of luck in fighting these symptoms
love

I received a message from Iryna regarding my mail about Swallowing and choking and grimacing, I have been contacted by a lady on PD Junction web site, and she has told me about Tardive Dyskinesia which apparently makes your tongue protrude and makes your face grimace, this is due to excessive medication containing Madopar and other dopamine medications. I am waiting ro see my specialist regarding the and my dosage i am taking. 12/50mg Co-Beneldopa and 50/100mg Co-Beneldopa and 200mg Entracapone all 5 times a day.

Hi Boothy, I can relate to your swallowing and choking problems, my neuro referred me to a speech therapist who came out to see me for a few months and gave me exercises to do and adviced me on what type of foods to eat, that was a few years ago and although I've never been on the meds your on, since changing my meds I don't seem to suffer as I used to. I hope things improve for you!

My husband had trouble with swallow/choking until he started to do voice exercises eg. singing and mouth , speaking out vowels strongly . Also his tongue would protrude and and move forcibly especially when under stress , and dribbling/drooling he is on Sinemet and it has improved .