More questions (from people that we know) about cannabis oil, and whether it will help with this condition or that condition. I’m not qualified to offer them the advice that they are seeking, but I know someone who is, so I message them on Facebook and set up a meeting on Skype, and everyone’s happy with that.
I have an appointment with my neurologist at the Norfolk and Norwich hospital this morning, so we drive into Norwich prepared for another fruitless encounter with him (the last time I saw him was prior to my DBS operation, and he really didn’t have anything of value to say to me). This time I have some things that I want to ask him to do:
- Write a letter to my doctor to ask him to prescribe exenatide for me – this is a type 2 diabetes drug that could, according to a recent clinical trial, arrest the progression of Parkinson’s Disease.
- Assess my condition using the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) so that (if my doctor agrees to prescribe me exenatide) it can be compared with my condition in 12 months time to see if progression has been halted.
I was successful on both counts. He put up mild resistance to asking my doctor to prescribe me a drug that isn’t currently licensed for Parkinson’s, but after I argued my point, he said that he wasn’t opposed to the idea and agreed to write to my doctor about it. He printed out the forms to assess me on the UPDRS, but assessed me while I still had my DBS switched on which, of course, invalidates the result. He really had difficult in accepting my assertion that he had wasted his time, but eventually he saw sense and agreed with me that he needs to redo my assessment with DBS switched off. Unfortunately we didn’t have sufficient time to do this today, so I’ll be returning in a couple of months time…
All in all I think that I got the results that I wanted (so far), but I feel somewhat underwhelmed by this healthcare professional – I shouldn’t really have to be telling him how to do his job.