When my medications turned off immediately for no apparent reason, I was befuddled and beyond worried. Not long ago a good friend experienced the same perplexing event with no medical forewarning. I saw an increase in balance issues, a reduction in drug benefit, and it took a longer time for to receive any benefit from my Parkinson’s disease medications.
It is a topic that I have seen no discussion on and yet to hear any doctor or patient bring to light. That most elusive of topics is the inclusion of antibiotics and the whirlwind of turmoil that can come with it.
Antibiotics disrupt the balance of our stomachs and the important enzymes for healthy digestion. They wipe out both the good and bad stuff in your gut, thus causing problems with the stability of your medications. As we all know, without absorption through the blood-brain barrier Levodopa and other medications lose their potency and overall efficacy.
So, the next time your physician wants to talk about putting you on an antibiotic for a toothache, infection, or anything that crops up, discuss with your doctor what the potential side-effects might do to your Parkinson’s disease drugs and know what you may be facing. The antibiotics may be needed, just be prepared and consider a good probiotic to replace those digestive juices.
I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice. This is personal opinion and my events. Discuss this with your doctor before you make any changes. Share your stories with me and my readers, if you like. I will share your stories.
This has also happened to me only once in ten years. Indeed, it was after a nasty GI virus that landed me in the hospital for what seemed to be cardiac issues, but was instead dehydration and low magnesium levels. I’m sure my gut flora was changed, tho without antibiotics. Following that, I was like another PD person. Normally, someone looking at me would notice an uneven gait, but many tell me they wouldn’t know I had PD. After the virus, I could barely walk, had that shuffle walk with the forward propulsion, was losing balance on my heels, and looked like I was 90 yrs old with PD. My MDS said the worst thing I could do was to increase meds. This was temporary and might take 2 weeks to go back to ‘normal.’ That the best thing I could do is rest and the worst was to push myself. He was right. Although I did push myself to get back to limited exercise.
We had a similar experience with an antibiotic and PD meds, I won’t name it here but my wife was prescribed for gastrointestinal problems and she had a severe reaction (rashes, swelling, itching). We took the extra steps to not only let all our doctors know but our pharmacy as wwell. We call that, reverse education. It sounded better than backwards medical training. Kind of like live and learn, experience makes for good teaching or lessons by patient practice. How about, patient driven medicine? Thanks Karl for a great blog!