Drugs...

I had told you in a previous post that depression was a chemical imbalance in the brain and if you consider drugs as chemicals, which they are, any changes to your meds can cause this imbalance.

Mt body is missing dopamine which is why I have Parkinson's, but dopamine does a lot more that just control muscle movement. It has been referred to as the "pleasure" chemical in the brain and if you take it away, depression can easily result. Levadopa is the name for the artificial dopamine that I take and it a highly effective drug but the only catch is that your body will get used to it after continuous use for several years and it will lose its effectiveness at controlling Parkinson's. Hence the need for DBS surgery and all that comes with that.

The implants can easily be programmed to replace the levadopa or dopamine in your system but only from a muscle control standpoint. They implants will never replace the other things that dopamine does for your mind. The resulting chemical imbalance caused by not taking levadopa can cause severe depression along with other problems. I was under the false assumption that the implants could replace levadopa completely and they cant. Some amount of dopamine is still required by the mind and if you get that through medication or wherever, you still need it.

So there lies the new challenge. The right amount of levadopa must be taken to keep the mind intact while knowing that whatever amount you take, it is slowly losing its effectiveness in your body. The most positive result of the surgery has been that I have been able to significantly reduce the amount of levadopa my body needs and thus making sure it will stay effective longer. I just cant forget that my mind still needs the drug and that I cant replace it completely.

Finding something positive to say was not that hard after all.