I sleep restlessly, dream a lot, wake up frequently and tense my body at night, which causes me to experience increasing pain, stiffness and tremors. In the morning, I find it difficult to get out of bed and walk because of the pain and stiffness. This restless sleep also affects me during the day, as the pain and stiffness often last all day. My Parkinson’s medication is becoming less and less effective, and my sleep and dream problems are getting worse. I take 2 Madopark Depot in the evening and 2 at night for this. Could it be that the intense dreams use up too much of the dopamine/levodopa during the night, meaning that the medication isn’t enough to compensate for this during the day?

Restless sleep can, of course, affect how you feel during the day, but I don’t think it’s the reason why the medication isn’t sufficient during the day. If you talk and/or move around a lot whilst dreaming, this can be alleviated by a medicine called Iktorivil, which you would then take at night. As for Madopark Depot and other Parkinson’s medicines, they can often make it easier to sleep, but sometimes they can have the opposite effect too, causing you to dream more and feel more alert at night. If pain and stiffness persist for much of the day and are due to Parkinson’s, it may be worth trying a higher dose of Parkinson’s medication. /Dag Nyholm