Not sure whether you got this so I am resending it. Responses to this by
hitting reply to sender will also likely have been lost
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----- Original Message -----
From: Charles T. Meyer,MD
To: Parkinson's Information Exchange Network
Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2000 11:43 AM
Subject: Re: Re: My Dad was just diagnosed
Dan,
Where is your father and where are you? We have a reasonably active PD support group here in Madison.
Your question about Mirapex and l-dopa is a good one. Most (many) neurologists feel that the longer one can hold off the use of l-dopa the better. Mirapex is an agonist of dopamine. It acts as dopamine (to which l-dopa is converted to in the brain.) But it is supposedly less likely to cause dyskinesias 0-- which are random movements which are difficult to control (except by surgery). If the Mirapex is helping a lot he should stay on it but if he has any significant problem with the drug he should consider adding l-dopa. It sounds as though he is getting some reasonably good advice.
Charlie
From: Daniel Wachula
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2000 10:58 PM
Subject: My Dad was just diagnosed
My father was diagnosed about a week ago. He is taking a drug called Mirapex. I guess that this drug is about 2 years old. He lives in Illinois and he needs to be active all the time - he worksout every other day. My question is - does anybody have any information about this drug? and what about the drug called levodpa? I have heard that l-dopa wears off after a few years which is why he is taking Mirapex? Any comments will be great.
Thanks for the newsletters on Web sites for PD. My Dad does not have a computer so I need to gather as much information on this as I can.
Thanks!
Dan in Wisconsin
