Fran Landes wrote: > Dear List Members, > > Please respond to a two part question as I am experiencing difficulty and am > reluctant to take more medication than necessary. I am 46, diagnosed at 45 > and in retrospect probably having symptoms for past 5 years. > I was diagnosed at 47--welcome to the club-- though I'm sure you are not that thrilled to be joining. > > I was diagnosed over a year ago and am now taking: > > (1) 100mg. tablet of Amantadine and > > (1/2) of .25 mg. of Mirapex in the morning and > the other (1/2) of the same .25 mg. pill in the afternoon. > > My neurologist wants me to increase the Mirapex to (1) pill 3 x per day. I > am doing so very slowly. > > Questions: > 1) Would some of you please let me know if you are taking Mirapex or Requip > and if one or the other seems to be more effective? My only experience was with Mirapex. After about a year the neurologist had popped me up (multiple pops) to the maximum dose. I didn't take it with anything else...except recently, when gradually coming off of the Mirapex (took a month) and on to Sinemet, I had overlap time on both -- that was just great. Now I'm on Sinemet alone. If I need to increase the dose, I just call him up. The neurologist took me off Mirapex because of the possibility of a "sleep attack" when driving. (I drive 3 hours to see him), it may be a liability issue for some people. I think I had some water weight gain, and insomnia. I'm not sure I can blame it on the Mirapex--probably just Parkinsons. But, I'm trying to minimize my Sinemet exposure by taking enough during the mid-day to be productive and I let myself be more symptomatic at night when I don't have to be active. I'm in the process of installing an outdoor wood furnace and building an egg shaped structure around it that will be a woodshed and/or forge area for my eldest son. I have plans for two more geodesic structures (a greenhouse and a house addition). I'm feeling handicapped to an extent, but, that ain't gonna stop me. I'll adapt. > > > 2). What dosage are most of you taking and how long did you find the agonists > (Mirapex or Requip) helpful before you had to start taking Sinemet? > > Thank you for your responses. > > Fran Landes > 46/45/43 -- .......................................................................... Ray Strand mailto:[log in to unmask] 48/47 dx/40 ?onset .......................................................................... ...on the edge of the prairie abyss ......................