Side effects of Parkinson’s disease drugs

As the saying goes, “medicine is three parts poison”, especially for Parkinson’s disease patients who need to take medication for a long time, they often worry, and often hear patients complain about dizziness, nausea, insomnia and other side effects after taking medication, so that some patients are afraid to take medication. Today, we list several possible adverse reactions to Parkinson’s disease medications: 1. Gastrointestinal Parkinson’s disease drug side effects are most often caused by discomfort in the patient’s gastrointestinal tract, including indigestion, nausea, vomiting, constipation and regurgitation. Most patients experience these symptoms in the early stages of taking levodopa. It can be understood that almost all Parkinson’s disease drugs may cause patients to have gastrointestinal discomfort. 2. Sleep disorders Amantadine and Slegiline can cause insomnia, excessive dreaming and other sleep disorder problems. We generally recommend that patients avoid taking them before going to bed and try to take them before noon or before 2:00 pm. Also, it is important to know that sleep disorders are among the most common non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Therefore, when patients have sleep disorders, they first need to determine whether they are caused by the progression of the disease itself or by the side effects of taking Parkinson’s disease drugs, and then treat them symptomatically. 3, upright hypotension Often hear patients after taking anti-Parkinson’s drugs, because of the violent standing of hypotension, appear black, dizziness, fainting and other discomfort, this phenomenon is called “upright hypotension”, the elderly patients appear this situation more often. The main drugs that trigger these side effects are levodopa, B-type monoamine oxidation inhibitors, anticholinergic drugs, and dopaminergic agonists, which are prone to these symptoms when first taken, and it is generally recommended to start with a small dose. Like sleep disorders, upright hypotension is often considered to be a feature of Parkinson’s disease itself, but of course, it can also be caused by side effects of some anti-Pa drugs. 4. Mental side effects Levodopa (Medopa, Xanax), dopaminergic agonists (Tysudar, Pramipexole), the common Kodan, and Antan, which is taken in excessive doses, can cause mental side effects in patients, mainly manifested as hallucinations, confusion, and unconsciousness. The most likely hallucinations are induced by levodopa-like drugs, which cause uncommon adverse reactions in the early stages of treatment, but the probability of hallucinations increases with age and duration of drug use. The most common drug that causes edema is amantadine hydrochloride tablets, and ropinirole hydrochloride causes edema in about 30% of patients. Medication is the treatment of choice for Parkinson’s disease and is an integral part of the overall treatment process. You need to know that the overall side effects of anti-Park drugs are low, and in most cases Parkers can safely take these drugs for a long time. If you experience any of these side effects during treatment, do not panic, set your mind right, cooperate with your doctor to adjust your medication, and do not stop taking the medication or change the dosage of the medication on your own.