Tips for Treatment of Fatigue in Parkinson's Disease

Many people with Parkinson's disease complain of overall fatigue, excessive daytime sleepiness, or generalized weakness.

Here are a few tips that may be helpful.

1- Consider obtaining a formal sleep study. This may be the most common treatable issue that emerges as the cause for fatigue and sleepiness in Parkinson's disease. Sleep issues like apnea, REM sleep behavioral disorder and others could be contributing to your problem. Failure to get a good nights sleep may impact the ability to enjoy a great next day.

2- Exercise everyday, and if possible do it early in the day. Exercise has a really terrific effect on some patients with Parkinson's disease and actually improves fatigue. The best exercise is anykind that makes you sweat.

3- Review your medications with your doctor. Dopamine agonists like Pramipexole and Ropinerole are known to cause sleepiness and have even been linked to automobile crashes. Also, sometimes as PD progresses the sinemet dose needs to be decreased and the tining interval between doses decreased.

4- Watch out for other medications like pain killers and sleep aids that could make you fatigued the next day (benzodiazepines).

5- Treat depression aggressively as this may lead to fatigue issues.

6- Occasionally the use of drugs such as modafinil, ritalin and amantadine may help fatigue.

Michael OkunMay 19, 2013

Tips for Treatment of Fatigue in Parkinson's Disease

To read more on Indu Subramanian M.D. she does live interviews of experts in Parkinson’s for the PMD Alliance. She is one of the few doctors in the world trained in both Parkinson’s disease neurology and in integrative medicine.

To see more on our blog by artist Jonny Acheson MD check out his website at JonnyAchesonArt.com. Jonny is a physician in the U.K. who also has Parkinson’s disease.

Dr. Michael S. Okun

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Tips for Treatment of Fatigue in Parkinson's Disease

To read more on Indu Subramanian M.D. she does live interviews of experts in Parkinson’s for the PMD Alliance﻿. She is one of the few doctors in the world trained in both Parkinson’s disease neurology and in integrative medicine.

To see more on our blog by artist Jonny Acheson MD check out his website at JonnyAchesonArt.com. Jonny is a physician in the U.K. who also has Parkinson’s disease.

Dr. Michael S. Okun

To read more on Indu Subramanian M.D. she does live interviews of experts in Parkinson’s for the PMD Alliance. She is one of the few doctors in the world trained in both Parkinson’s disease neurology and in integrative medicine.