Neurologist Stasha Gominak MD believes the key to recovery is sleep. here are some of the questions she answered that were asked by you!
Question 1
I tried to take  lots of L tyrosine to help smooth out amino acid therapy on/off times at the recommendation of the doctor overseeing the
amino acid therapy. I could not sleep because symptoms were so much worse, but when I did sleep, I had the worst nightmares imaginable.
I tried this several times and each time the same result. Any idea why this is?
Question 2
M questions for the session on sleep are – I generally find that I can fall asleep quite easily – but I very frequently wake up after two or three hours with a lot of pain. I tend to be quite immobile in bed and usually sleep on my back and after some time get quite uncomfortable and find it difficult to move.
Are there any suggestions about how I can become more mobile and more comfortable. I’ve asked several people about this but nobody has any really good suggestions.
Related to this – I’ve a very weird thing that
happens which is that my left ankle becomes quite
fixed in position in bed – and quite uncomfortable.
This frequently also affects the pain in my back
as apparently there is a link between the muscles
in the ankle and the back.
Question 3
My PD meds make me sleepy, so I take them basically 24 hours a day. They help me sleep at night — but would it be a deep sleep or not? That’s my fear, that I may not be getting enough deep sleep.
I also take Melatonin on a regular basis. Â Carbohydrates, too, put me to sleep, so I often eat rice cakes before bed.
Question 4
What about those of us who are up because we
need to use the bathroom? And. how does one deal
with the PDdrugs when the body awakens seeming to need them during the night.
Lastly it is often very difficult to walk in the early morning hours which make the trips very difficult?