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Ervin asked: Charley, what is your experience with ReQuip.
Thank You.
 Ervin McCarthy

My main problems with PD are stiff slow movement with some
shuffling and freezing.  Tremor has been controlled since
I started with just Selegiline and Amantadine about 9
years ago.  As the slow movement (and sometimes slow
thought) became more of a problem, Parlodel and finally
Sinemet CR 50-200 were added.

About 3-4 years ago, when I started to have extreme
problems with slowness, my neurologist replaced Parlodel
and Amantadine with Requip, increasing the Sinemet CR from
3 to 4 times/day.  It seems to work best for me when I
take the Requip at the same time as the Sinemet CR. My
neuro later added the Amantadine back, but just twice/day,
not the previous three or four. I also now take one Requip
(1 mg) with Sinemet CR 50-200 four times/day and a fifth
Sinemet CR alone when I go to bed at night.

"Sleep attacks" seemed to be associated with Requip
however (within 30 minutes of taking it).  But they have
become much less of a problem this past year.   (It is
interesting to me that this lessening of sleep attacks
seems to coincide with me beginning to take Dr.
Perlmutter's dietary supplement "brainsustain" and the Q-
10 and NADH he recommends.)

I have been taking SAM-e for several years to help with
mood.  I think that the SAM-e acts as a precursor for
Glutathione.  Since I get my medical care from a HMO, I
doubt if they would approve the Glutathione by injection
that Dr. Perlmutter recommends.

I see it as a package deal.  My body moves best when I
take Requip at the same time as the Sinemet CR.
Amantadine seems to increase the effect of the Requip/
Sinemet CR combination for me.

Are my problems with PD solved.  NO!  But my wife and son
are witnesses to my daily "Mr. Hyde - Dr. Jekyl" routine.
I wake up in an awful stiff state.  Sometimes my wife has
to help me sit up in bed.  I shuffle to the toilet and
then to the kitchen to take my first dose of Selegiline/
Requip/Sinemet CR w/ orange juice.  Later I take SAM-e.
With breakfast I take the Amantadine, Q-10, and
"brainsustain."  The transformation gradually takes place.
About an hour after breakfast, although I frequently still
feel weak, I can do a T'ai Chi and cane form for exercise
(and then walk or work in my garden if I want to.)

After my second dose of Requip/Sinemet CR (about 9:00
a.m.), I usually am "on" (although still a little slow
compared to "normal" people)  through my second dose of
Selegiline/Amantadine w/lunch and third dose of Requip/
Sinemet CR after lunch.  About two hours after lunch, I
take another SAM-e and the NADH. I need to take a long
break later in the afternoon.

I take my fourth dose of Requip/Sinemet CR about 5:00 p.m.
Which takes me through dinner until about 9:00 p.m. Things
begin to get very slow again about then.  So I take my
last Sinemet CR about 9:30 p.m. and go to bed about an
hour later.  I usually am able to sleep through the night
now and begin the routine over again when I wake up about
5:00 a.m.

A recent change from four to five Sinemet CR 50-200 seems
to have been very effective in lessening unpredicted "off
times."

I will add that I can occasionally stay up late. (Like
tonight and type this.) But the next day I pay for it with
slow movement and freezing.

Sorry for the long reply to your short question Ervin.
But I think of my meds being together in a  package.

Charley
51, diagnosed 1993, PD symptoms began 2-3 years before
that.

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