Brian,

I am sorry I waited so long to answer you. My husband and I are not sure of our time frame , so this is the best we can do.

He was started on Selegiline 5 mg 2 x daily and Amantadine 100 2x a day. His disease progressed so added Mirapex in ascending doses was added. He developed
what I believe is called "vivid dreams", edema and somnolence.

Switched to Requip - not much better..

Then switched to carboidopa-levodopa 12.5 - 50, had nausea and somnolence.
All of this with the  Selegiline and Amantadine.

Now on

Selegiline 5 mg  2x a day.
Amantidine 100 ( 1 ) once a day.
carbidopa-levodopa 5-50 , 3 x a day
atenolol 25 mg 1 x daily.
multivitiams

He is actually better than he was 2 years ago.

He does have late onset PD. ( His brother did also)

I hope this adds to your data.

Nita

Brian Collins wrote:

> Hello friends   I wrote the following e-mail to this group about three weeks
> ago, and was disappointed to see it only produced 3 answers. Surely this
> fundamental question should be exposed? After all, we know from their previous
> letters that many of our contributors are on the receiving end of one or other
> of these strategies - I can't believe that they are content to be led off on
> a path to potential damage. Here is the story one more time-
>
> On Fri 17 Dec, Brian Collins wrote:
>  I have read all the recent e-mails earnestly dealing with moving away from
>  Sinemet in early Parkinson's, and smiled to myself - a little sadly I must
>  admit, at the thought of all the discomfort these people are having to put
>  up with, and even the possibility of real harm.  I won't go to the lengths
>  of quoting all the detailed articles here; suffice it to say that a long
>  and bitter debate is raging amongst the upper echelons of the neurologist
>  fraternity, about whether moving away from Sinemet, or avoiding Sinemet for
>  as long as possible is good or bad for you. Make no mistake - they can't
>  both be right, and those who are in the wrong camp (The abandon Sinemet
>  camp if you are not sure where I am coming from) are grimly leading their
>  patients deeper into the quicksands every day.
>
>     So: You can't trust the neuros ! They cannot all be right ! What can we
>  do ? Obvoiusly there is no point in me or any of our other amateurs who
>  write to the list running through our ideas - we could also be as wide of
>  the mark as the professionals. Well, you might care to keep the following
>  thoughts handy to try on someone next time the subject comes up..
>
>   How long do you intend to live ? If you start with that question, and work
>  back, I think most of you will see that (even with the promise of stem cells)
>  there is a long road in front of us ( I'm ahead of most of you, but not all,
>  and it still looks a long road to me. I have already made my Sinemet go
>  continuously for 20 years- it's easy, anyone can do it, all it takes is a
>  little common sense. My writing on this subject is available to all, so I
>  will say no more. What else? Well, I have made the Sinemet go even further,
>  when it became impossible to use alone at 14 years, and six years on, I have>to take 6 mg of Pergolide to balance the Sinemet, and I'm doing well, but
>  I am sailing very close to the wind, and the message is: You cannot afford
>  to play fast and loose with Dopamine agonists. They are, in my view, a lot
>  more dangerous than Sinemet in their potential side-effects, and must be
>  treated witth respect. There is a proper place for them, and I think it is
>  later rather than earlier.
>    One last warning; The New Agonists cost a LOT more than Sinemet don't
>  they? When you get your next bit of advice   (or read about how great Re-Quip
>  , Mirapex, etc, etc is) just ask yourself who is paying their wages!
>  --
> Brian Collins  <[log in to unmask]>  (59/39/34)
>
> --
> Brian Collins  <[log in to unmask]>  (59/39/34)