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To Alan Bonander Alan, you're the first one I have heard of using 25/250. Could you tell me all you know about it. I have been taking it for about a month now & find it causes my right foot and ankle to twist inward. I therefore had chose to split the pills in half. At this point I haven't seen much gain in taking the pill. Thanks in advance. [log in to unmask] ----- Original Message ----- From: "janet paterson" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2001 12:33 PM Subject: gold nuggets from the archives / carbidopa > >>> Posting number 277 > Date: Sun, 20 Feb 1994 17:01:20 EST > From: Alan Bonander > Subject: Sinemet Usage > > Dear Barbara, you have most likely received a lot of help concerning your > trouble with Sinemet. I thought I would add a different twist to the > problem. > > Just some random thoughts on the use of Sinemet. > > The name Sinemet means "without throwing up" or something similar. This was > the major problem with Levodopa by its self. Adding Carbidopa to Levodopa > smoothed the "throwing up" center and allowed more Levodopa to cross the > blood-brain barrier. There has been various writings about how much > Carbidopa one needs daily to effectively control the problems and give the > benefit. Some famous doctors have stated that between 50 and 125 mg of > Carbidopa is needed. Recently it was reported that 75 to 150 mg were needed. > Then it was reported that if one takes over 300 mg that Carbidopa crosses > over the blood-brain barrier and inhibits conversion of Levodopa to Dopamine. > All this is very confusing to patients. So here is my current thinking and I > am not a MD. I have PD. > > Carbidopa has some negative side effects. It inhibits the generation of > Serotonin. Now Serotonin is required in the process of making natural > dopamine in the brain. What could be happening is, too much carbidopa could > effectively cause an OFF result by the process above. At the same time, too > little carbidopa and we start to throw up. I have found for myself I need > around 125 mg of carbidopa to maximize my response to Levodopa. Too much and > I have less than optimal response and too little, no response at all. To > help the response along I take my Sinemet on an empty stomach. Taking it > with food can cause problems as the same with protein conflicts. > > I often suggest that if stomach problems result from taking Sinemet on an > empty stomach, use a cracker or a vanilla wafer cookie, all of which have no > protein, and take the pill with orange juice, 7-up or similar sweet fluid. > If you want to speed things along, put the Sinemet pill in the sweet fluid > for about 60 seconds and than drink it. The pill will dissolve and will pass > through the pylorus into the small intestine. This is were it needs to be to > enter the blood system, etc. One warning, this method will send a lot of the > medication to the brain quickly. As a result, you could actually be > overdosed for a short time. It is very effective for the first pill in the > morning, when one needs an extra boost. > > Another consideration for those of you taking Sinemet CR and having stomach > problems with the first dose. It turns out that Levodopa in the CR actually > releases faster than the Carbidopa. The result is nausea, etc. The > recommended alternative is to ask your doctor for a FREE drug call Lodosyn. > Yes I said FREE. This is the name of a Carbidopa only pill that is 25 mg of > Carbidopa. DuPont gives these to doctors free for asking. You can not get a > prescription as drug stores do not carry free meds. Anyway, taking a 25 mg > Lodosyn with the first CR in the morning seems to solve the nausea problems. > I might also add that it takes about two weeks of taking Sinemet for it to > build to a "therapeutic level" according to one famous neurologist. Maybe > after two weeks some of the initial problems go away. > > Now I don't know how much added confusion I have contributed to with this > little bit of noise. If it doesn't work for you, fine. If it does work, > fine. > Any other comments would be appreciated. Like a said, I am not a MD. > I have had PD for 10 years and take about 800 mg of Levodopa, 125 mg of > Carbidopa, 2 mg of Permax and 20 mg of Paxil. When I was diagnosed, the > doctor gave me Sinemet 25/250 and said take 4 or 5 of these a day and you > will feel better. I did and I did. No problems initially, the problems came > later when the ON/OFF started. That is another story for another time. > > Alan Bonander <[log in to unmask]> > > janet paterson, an akinetic rigid subtype, albeit perky, parky > PD: 54/41/37 CD: 54/44/43 TEL: 613 256 8340 EMAIL: [log in to unmask] > "A New Voice" home page: http://www.geocities.com/janet313/ . > "New Voice News" latest posts: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nvnNET/ . > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn