Hi Glenn,

Welcome to the forum!  Just wanted to briefly reply to your message in
regard to Mirapex.  The brochure that comes with the prescription package  when you
pick it up at the drugstore will tell you of the side effects that can  be
experienced with Mirapex.  All people react to drugs  differently.  Some may
have little or no effects at all.

 I was, myself, on Mirapex for a period of about 10 months.  I  had initiated
my drug therapy with Requip which I took for almost a year.   I did not feel
well on Requip and it was causing my hair to become thin and fine  in texture.
 I am only one of  approx. a thousand people who  experience the hair loss
problem (according to the manufacturer whom I  called for information).

Because of the problems with Requip, I switched to Mirapex and took it for
approx. ten months.  With Mirapex, I found myself drowsy too much of  the time
(an affect that I hear most often associated with this drug).  I  became very
concerned about driving while on this medication to the point that I  finally
ceased taking it and switched to Sinemet (Carbo dopa/Levo dopa).  I  have been
taking Sinemet for approximately 2 years now.  I believe that  when I started
Mirapex that I had an episode or two of internal tremors which  were very
unpleasant and disturbing.  It has been so long since I've taken  Mirapex that I
don't recall if I had experienced any more disturbances  that I would
associate with it.

I feel that I am relatively sensitive to drugs as a whole and  therefore I
might experience symptoms that the average person might not.   In addition, I
had never had to take drugs prior to the medications for  Parkinson's (nothing
more than an occasional aspirin or antihistamine)therefore  I might be more
alarmed about side effects than someone who has had to  deal with them on a
regular basis.  Also, it might be that your  neurologist has seen and treated so
many cases of Parkinson's and the  reactions people have to drugs that he feels
that your episode was not too  unusual.

I would have been upset with your neurologist"s response to your  problem
myself  but I am just recently dealing with a similar  situation and I am
finding, from my experience, that these doctors do not have  much of a "bedside
manner" nor do they offer much "hand-holding". I do not  have a lot of experience
with what to expect from a neurologist...maybe that can  be the subject for a
future discussion on the forum...."How should we  expect to be treated by our
Neurologists?"

As usual, my brief reply has become rather lengthy and I must stop  for
now...I hope that you receive more responses to your question so that you  will
have a broad opinion on the matter.

PS...Be careful when stopping some of these drugs.  Some (not all)  need to
be titrated down gradually over a period of time and should not be  stopped
suddenly.

Dee

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