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Hi Geoff, Welcome to the Parkinsn List and thank you for your comments on When Parkinson's Strikes Early. I am one of the co-editors, and it means so much to hear that the book has been helpful to its readers. Many of the contributors are still members of the Parkinsn list, and I'm sure they also are happy to know that their words have traveled throughout the world's Parkinson's community and making a difference in people's lives. This year's PAN Forum was the largest and I think most energetic I have been to. There was such a great feeling of community among the participants. There were many new participants and all were determined that our voices would be heard by our government representatives. We heard such promising reports about research taking place in the NINDS and many other Institutes. Yet we also heard that President Bush has proposed only .05 % increase in the 2006 NIH budget - with the biomedical inflation rate at over 3% - this would result in many ongoing promising research projects being halted. This makes no sense!! PAN is advocating for a 6% increase in the NIH budget in the U.S. More on the PAN legislative agenda is forthcoming. It would be interesting to hear how Parkinson's research funding is faring in other countries. I also wanted to reply to your statement about not starting on levodopa or Sinemet. There has been considerable controversy about this for many years. It is true that many PWP develop dyskinesia after about 5 years of treatment. Many patients are now started on a dopamine agonist like ropinerole as a monotherapy first, and can delay sinemet for a longer period of time. But I think most PWP find that eventually you reach a point where the quality of life is being diminished by the symptoms and it is time to begin Sinemet therapy. I have to say that in the beginning it really works well! You may feel almost normal for awhile. Hopefully we will have better ways of controlling the dyskinesias in the coming years. There are a number of treatments currently in clinical trials that may control these side effects. It's a constant balancing act with PD . My advice is to learn as much as you can about the disease and try to find a good Movement Disorders specialist who is also willing to listen to you. Linda ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn