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Jorge Romero reported a warning: "Patients receiving
[Mirapex] have reported falling asleep ... "

A more extensive text can be found in (1) a letter from the
manufacturer to prescribers, and (2) in a revision of the
FDA safety information. Those two documents [and many
others] pop up if you go to  http://www.fda.gov/search.html
and search on Mirapex. [Many thanks to Murray Charters for
pointing us to the FDA.]

The FDA document contains the following:  "some [patients]
perceived that they had no warning signs such as excessive
drowsiness, and believed that they were alert immediately
prior to the event". -- So it would seem that Bob
Armentrout's ability to detect an oncoming sleep-attack is
not universal.

The FDA document also contains the following:  "In a
fixed-dose study in early Parkinson's disease, occurrence of
the following events increased in frequency as the dose
increased over the range from 1.5 mg/day to 6 mg/day:
postural hypotension, nausea, constipation, somnolence, and
amnesia. The frequency of these events was generally 2-fold
greater than placebo for pramipexole doses greater than 3
mg/day. The incidence of somnolence with pramipexole at a
dose of 1.5 mg/day was comparable to that reported for
placebo. ... ". -- So it would seem that Mirapex at up to
1.5 mg/day _may_ be 'safe' as far as sleep-attacks are
concerned.

Given our North-American dependence on cars, where most of
us almost _cannot function_ without driving, I wonder
whether someone is working on a 'no-doz' form of pramipexole
or ropinirole.

Ben Winter 66/66/64
Victoria BC Canada