^^^^^^  WARM GREETINGS  FROM  ^^^^^^^^^^^^  :-)
 Ivan Suzman        50/39/36       [log in to unmask]      :-)
 Portland, Maine    land of lighthouses     37  cold rain  deg. F   :-)
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Hi Cari,

I  take partial tablets of both Sinemet and Sinemet CR, to avoid
dyskinesia caused by whole tablets of either medication  being too
strong.

 I also regularly (on my tongue) crush only the regular Sinemet, not the
CR.

With both of these, I stick to  3 hour intervals.

 I limit myself  carefully to well-cut half-tablets (50 mg) of
 100 mg Tasmar, at 4 to 5 hour intervals, again to avoid dyskinesia
that a whole Tasmar causes.

With all these partial-pill doses, lately I am getting 8 TO 10 HOURS
of on-time with very little off-time.  I have never done so well before!

   I also will add 1/4 of a tablet of  Sinemet 25/100 to boost myself ,
when I need more l-dopa, such as when I have leg cramps in the late
afternoon..

Two questions:

  1)  Have you tried cutting the  Tasmar tablets at all?

   2)  Do you give your dad any medications at all after 5 PM?

 I have doses  at 9:15 PM, at 12:15 AM(after midnight),
and at 3:45 AM. Looking at his schedule, I am wondering how he feels
 after his  5 PM.dose has worn off.  How does he get through the night?

 I avoid breaking CR at night,.so that at least in theory,
 I can get  a slow release of l-dopa over a longer period
of time, to enable me to sleep more  comfortably.

On Thu, 6 Apr 2000 00:07:39 -0400 Cari Barrett <[log in to unmask]>
writes:
> Thanks, Don for your feedback -
> we have tried many things to get Daddy up and mobile faster in the
> morning -
> not earlier, but faster -
>
> We DID try chewing a portion of a CR, but it didn't hit fast enough
> and when
> it finally did, in conjunction with the next doses - he was so
> dyskenetic it
> was awful -
>
> The 25-100 crushed with his morning meds has made a huge difference
> (for the
> most part!) but as we all know - every day is a surprise!!!!
>
> thanks again!
>
> Cari
>   daughter of Dempsey-PWP (71/16+)
>   & Jo Ann-CGiver