On Thu 27 Feb, Mark F. Hardy wrote:
> Help!
>
>   I've been lurking, reading, and here, AND NOW I need some
> advice or historical experiences from those of you that have
> or are taking Permax.
>   I take senemet 25/100 about every 2 hours and eldepryl once
> a day.
>   Why Permax?  Was suggested by a doctor I saw from Emory.
>   Question:  my neurologist has never prescribed Permax and
> thus has no experience with it - this makes me nervous.  By
> reading the instruction sheet that came with the Permax, she
> decided that I should take a fouth of a .25 mg pill once a
> day for the 1st 3 days, then a forth twice a day for 3 days,
> eventually working my way up to a forth 6 times a day.  The
> fun part will be cutting this little pill into fourths - the
> local pharmacy does not have the smaller doses nor a machine/
> device to cut the pills.
>   Question:  this doc also said that I should be able to decrease
> my senemet as the Permax builds up or whatever you call it.  She
> told me that I'll have to reduce it based on how I'm feeling or
> how often I need it.  I don't particularly like this idea - you
> all know how nice the "off" times are and here I'm being told to
> delay senemet until I need it, which means "here comes an 'off'
> period."  I know that only I can tell when I'll need it, just don't
> relish this learning process.
>   Anyway, I'm both excited and leary, so give me your thoughts please.
> I've already read about the nausea and hallucination possibilities and
> will be on the look-out for such.
>
> thanks, mark hardy
>         [log in to unmask]
>
>
Hello Mark, maybe I can give you a few examples from my own experience with
Permax, which as far as I am concerned has all been good news. However, don't
get carried away by an excess of enthusiasm: Permax is very much a Dopamine
'agonist' -which means it helps the levodopa to do its job, but it would
require dangerous quantities of Permax if it were to be used as a total
replacement for levodopa.

I used a computer program which I have developed to help me analyse the
effects and characteristics of the various tablets which we take. Because
Permax takes days to settle down and start working properly, you can only
gauge the effect by looking at the difference in the amount of levodopa
required to achieve the optimum effect. In my case, the effect of 1 mg per day
of Permax was equivalent to 17 mg per hour of levodopa. Note the units very
carefully: mg/DAY for Permax, and mg/HOUR for levodopa. I believe the safe
maximum dose of Permax is 3 mg/day. It would surprise me to hear that you got
the same effect, because we are all different in our reactions  to these drugs,
but you are welcome to make use of the program if you wish. Read all about it
on Ron Vetter's web site.  (Ron generously provided the web page to avoid
the many calls which I was getting from people with similar questions. Keep
very clearly in mind that you don't need to understand the workings of the
program in order to use it. - And don't worry about nausea. I think the
statistics say that about 5% experience nausea, and even if you do get it ,
there are various ways to cope with it.

Regards,
--
Brian Collins  <[log in to unmask]>