I tried the basketball for a year for now and I have developed a mager progress against the pd . I managed to reduced my sinemet from 4 times a day to three and lower the dose

I know what you mean about apathy, it is different from depression. I fight it with excercise. Go for a brisk daily walk, get a small basketball and throw it against the wall and bounce it round the yard. Take a skipping rope and build up with a few skips then try faster for high intensity until out of breathe. I can now do 40 slow and 20 fast and I am 69! Good luck.

@A MyParkinsonsTeam Member. I have a good neurologist and she does not have a clue about non-motor issues. I tried to explain the apathy that I'm experiencing, and her response was "that's not apathy." It is! i don't know how to ge her to understand it and what it does to me. She doesn't get it. I'm not depressed and anxiety is seldom. I'm just stuck with apathy. Sorry I can't be of help to you. I'd love to find someone who has found a way to get neurologists to understand it and help us through it. Thanks for bringing it up. Maybe someone else on this site wlll give us a clue. In the meantime, let's keep plugging along and realize that maybe we son't have it so bad. Sending you a giant hug. I'll get off the couch tomorrow, if you will. Breanna Benjamin

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A MyParki...

I doubt that neurologists fully understand the non-motor symptoms. It's not that they don't want to, but because of PD's complexity, I doubt that they can. Ordinarily, apathy, anxiety, and depression can be challenging to treat, but become more so in patients whose brains have been compromised by a disease. I've come to the conclusion that unless you have PD you can't fully understand it.

That's not to say that they aren't aware of the non-motor symptoms. I was surprised by my neurologist several appointments ago. She sensed that I was becoming quite anxious, something that I didn't even realize, and we've successfully treated it with medication. As always, if you've experienced a change, bring ti to your doctor's attention. They are dependent on our feedback to give us proper care.

Apathy is the perfect description of my husband. Thank you for the word. PD has so many tentacles. Hard to keep up with them. While exercise is helpful for those who can do it, my husband has other issues. Apathy maybe the block to him not exercising. Every so often he will take his walker and go outside with me along, to walk a short distance and back to the house. Driving makes his sciatica symptoms worse for a day or so after. His neurologist is an hour away and my husband is exhausted for two days after the trip up and back. At least now he agrees to have me drive us back. Tomorrow is a four hour neuro/psych evaluation re: cognitive status. Just grateful for each day we have together. Hugs all