I have looked for videos that may show some LBD symptoms in progress, but to date have found none. My mom has this "waving" of her chest and shoulders which we at first interpreted as being shortness of breath. Her cardiologist performed an O2 level test which she passed with flying colors. Is this a PD symptom picked up by LBD?

Flo,
The only symptom for which there's a video is RBD (REM sleep behavior disorder). I've never heard of waving chest and shoulders, and am not totally sure what you mean by the term "waving." Is this undulating? A tremor? Dyskinesia?
Robin

Thank you so much for responding, Robin. Mama has had these movements since a couple days after beginning Namenda. We began noticing that her head was sinking into her shoulders, and she would exert much strength to hold it back up. Therefore, the thought of shortness of breath, but her breathing proved to be fine. Undulating could be a very good word to attach to this movement. It almost looks like a slow turtle retraction into his shell, then coming back out with a lot of effort. I am planning on making a video to send to her neurologist for review before we see him next month.

Again, thanks for the response,

Flo,
OK, the "turtle-like retraction" makes some sense. There is a lot of odd neck postures and neck dystonia that can occur in PD and atypical parkinsonism disorders such as LBD. In some people, I have noticed that their shoulders rise into something like a permanent shrug. If it's painful to your mother, you might consider botox injections. There are some risks with botox; it's used by neurologists to treat dystonia and rigidity.
Robin


PS. You mentioned in a post on LBDcaregivers that Jim Manner asked you to post your introduction. Jim Manner is the administrator here, not on LBDcaregivers. Do you want to make your introductory post here as well?

yes to the intro here. I'm sorry that I didn't distinguish between the 2.