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Mary Ann, Before starting sinemet, Ken was on amantadine and then Requip (another dopamine agonist)-- eventually taking a very high dose of requip (15mg/day). He had a very unsuccessful trial of Mirapex -- it did not work at all for his tremors and he had a number of bad side effects. He eventually had to quit Requip and the other dopamine agonists because: 1) they had stopped doing much of anything for his tremors; 2) obsessive/compulsive behaviors were getting to be a real problem; 3) he had horrible problems with swollen feet. I am sure Parkinson's factors into his depression, but he is also bipolar (manic-depressive), which was pre-existing before the Parkinson's symptoms or diagnosis. As far as the tremors, his neurologist thinks he would be a good candidate for DBS but there are problems related to 1) money -- we have poor health coverage and low income; 2) Ken's history of bipolar disorder and the risk that DBS would stimulate mania and/or depression; and 3) the fact that he is very, very frightened of the idea of DBS. He does also still take Topamax (it is an anti-epileptic drug) for his essential tremor but it provides little benefit anymore. He may try another dopamine agonist as an addition to the sinemet sometime in the near future. Thanks, however, for your thoughts and suggestions. Annette On 7/30/07, Mary Ann Ryan <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > Annette, Mirapex helped my husband get rid of his tremors. It also had a > major impact on his depression. It can cause psychosis in high doses - > but > has been very helpful in riding him of those terrible tremors. > ---------- > God bless > Mary Ann (CG Jamie 67/27 with PD) > www.bentwillowfarm.org > > > My husband has also experienced significant weight loss and a > newly-gained > > capacity to NOT put on weight since the worsening of his Parkinson's > > symptoms several years ago. He currently takes 5 sinemet 25/100 + 5 > > sinemet > > 50/200 daily. He has severe tremors (bilateral -- arms, hands, > legs/feet > > + > > head) and also has essential tremor (has action, intention and resting > > tremors) and he has lost the most weight at the time when his tremors > have > > been the worst -- I think both because of calories burned through the > > constant shaking and because of the fact that bad tremors make it > > difficult > > for him to eat. L-dopa related nausea/loss of appetite doesn't > help. He > > also suffers from periodic episodes of severe depression (which are > > sometimes associated with total loss of appetite and other times > > associated > > with an uncontrollable urge to eat tons of ice cream). > > > > Annette, wife & caregiver of Ken > > > > On 7/16/07, Nick <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > >> > >> My wife is a 15 year Parkie. She started losing weight about a year > ago, > >> and has gone from 105 to 85. She has a good appetite, eats a balanced > >> diet. She is still losing weight. She takes amantidine , 2tabs twice a > >> day, and 2 sinemet 25/100 before bedtime. Has this happened to any > other > >> Parkies? Is this directly related to her Parkinson's disease? Please > >> help. > >> > >> Nick > >> husband & caregiver > >> > >> > >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >> 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 > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > 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