My husband has Oliverponto cerebellar and was only given 6mnths/2 years. He was told this on the 30th of November 2011, he is really fighting but now he is sleeping a lot and continually has urinary infections due to being catheterised. Is it okay for him to continually take antibiotics and is it normal for him to sleep so much? My husband is 57 yrs old
Hi, Thanks for writing in. The condition olivopontocerebellar atrophy is degenerative and slowly gets worse, and there is no cure. However, it may be years before someone becomes significantly disabled. Your husband might be having a slower course of the condition and his life can be prolonged. The patients having this problem can have frequent trauma due to falls. Supportive care with gait-assisting devices is especially important to minimize falls. Since your husband has urinary tract infection, he needs to get treated for it completely. It is suggested that in consultation with urologist he gets urine investigations done regularly and take antibiotics at a low maintenance dose as recommended. Catheter hygiene must be maintained. The sleeping cannot be controlled and medications that work on the brain in this condition have shown mild response. By taking good supportive care you can prolong his life.