Hello all --
Actually, I was simply commenting on our personal
experience. I don't recall making any statements as to anything else about
the article in question. I personally don't know who funded it or
why. Below is my original post to the list regarding that. I've
often seen the same facts or study quoted to prove both sides of a debate (for
and against). Just depends on who is interpreting the
"facts." We weren't trying to prove anything . . . just present
our experience. Weren't trying to offend anyone either. Sorry if we
did!
Carole Menser. M.A.
PWP Ted (54/46/40)
-----Original Message-----
From:
Carole K. Menser <[log in to unmask]>
To: supermario
<[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Saturday, February 02, 2002 12:23 PM
Subject: Re: Please read -
important
We are ones who, if surveyed, can report a
sudden onset of sleep while driving and there was no warning. No sleep
attacks since stopping Mirapex. Requip had the same result of inducing
marked sleepiness at a dosage beyond about .5 to 1mg. This is very
different from the fatigue many experience with PD. Fortunately in the US,
we are not prohibited from driving if taking these medications. However,
be it three people out of 638 or one in a million who falls asleep at the wheel,
that's a potential for a disaster.
Carole Menser, M.A.
PWP Ted (54/46/40)
Parkinson's Drugs Don't
Cause Sudden Sleep
by: Ed Edelson,
HealthScoutNews Reporter
01/22/2002 |
|
|
(HealthScoutNews) -- Debunking previous research, a new study finds no
connection between medications people with Parkinson's disease take and their
sudden bouts of sleepiness while driving.
The finding is especially
important in Canada, because that government has required warning letters about
pramipexole (Mirapex) and ropinirole (Requip), based on studies suggesting they
promote sleepiness, says Dr. Douglas E. Hobson, lead author and an assistant
professor of neurology at the University of Manitoba.
"When the
Canadian government requested the warning letters on these two drugs, it said
the warning was pending further information," Hobson says. "This is
further information."
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration
has not issued a similar warning, but many doctors here have been cautious about
prescribing the drugs.
Excessive daytime sleepiness is known to
be common among patients with Parkinson's disease, in which a deficit of the
brain chemical dopamine can cause trembling, stiffness, difficulty walking, and
reduced mental function. The two drugs, which promote dopamine activity, have
been reported to cause sudden sleepiness while driving.
But a study of
638 patients at 18 Canadian clinics found no such connection, says a report in
tomorrow's issue of the Journal of the American Medical
Association.
The researchers used the Epworth
Sleepiness Scale and an Inappropriate Sleep Composite Score, specifically
developed for the study, to determine not only the risk of falling asleep, but
also how often it occurs.
They found 51 percent of the patients
reported daytime sleepiness, and the number of times that happened was not
affected by any medication the patients were taking. They also found the risk of
the much-feared sudden onset of sleep while driving is rare. Only 16 patients
reported a sudden onset of sleep while driving, and only 3 said it occurred
without warning.
The score on the two tests, taken
together, "is a useful tool to identify patients who are abnormally sleepy,
and may play a role in increasing patient and physician awareness of this
significant clinical problem," the journal report says.
"We were
looking for predictors, because everyone was told they shouldn't drive,"
Hobson says. "This will be helpful in selecting out the patients who
shouldn't be driving."
The study is also useful because it
gives solid information about unwanted sleepiness, he says.
"No one knew
how often it happens," Hobson says. "Knowing the frequency will help a
lot in relation to regulations about driving."
The study will help
doctors treating Parkinson patients because it gives them a way of identifying
patients at high risk of unwanted sleepiness, says Dr. Cynthia L. Comella, of
Rush-Presbyterian-St Luke's Medical Center in Chicago.
"The most
important point of the study is the ability to measure sleepiness in Parkinson's
disease," says Comella, who wrote an accompanying editorial. "The
method is quite simple and clinically applicable. Until now, nothing has been
shown to assess sleepiness in correlation with
driving."