 |
 |
My name is Rick McGirr. I'm a musician from Buffalo, NY. I was a subscriber to this listserv some time ago, I don't know, maybe 5 or 6 years ago. At that time, I was in my late 40's, and in the earliest stages of PD. I sure didn't know how good I had it then, how easy things were. As the song goes, "Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then." I joined up again because I'm in need of practical info and would like to learn from other members' experiences. I've been on Sinemet, Requip, and Selegiline since forever. This past year, a real tough year for me personally, I've gone through a bunch of changes, in my meds as well as in life. I'm still working as a musician, but it takes about all the energy I can muster to get through gigs. Those of you who have/had 'real' jobs have my sympathy. My job is relatively easy, compared to people who work 40 hr weeks. I probably spend 20 hrs a week at playing music for people, but I have other irons in the fire. Rental properties, piano students, the house, the wife the kids the cars etc, are my responsibility as well. Well, lately I have been assaulted by some pretty fierce depression and physical weakness, and an increase in my symptoms. I'm just not handling everything I should be handling, and things are building up in my "to do list". My last visit to the neurologist was just this past Monday. At that time, I told doc that I wasn't yet having any "off" times in between doses. (I was taking Sinemet CR 50/200, one and a half pills, and Requip 3mg, both three times daily.) I also told doc that the level of meds wasn't getting to the symptoms as well as in the past. I thought it was curious, then, that he would want to switch me to Stalevo, which is supposed to deliver more C/L per dose, but with a possible low time inbetween doses. I don't know about that, but I can tell you that I am not having a good time on this new stuff. It isn't even reaching the tremor, etc, as well as the stuff I was on previously. Just now I got a call back from my neuro doc's secretary, and doc wants me to go back to Sinemet CR with a low dose of Stalevo. Does this make as much sense as using Comtan? With Stalevo, wouldn't I be piling C/L on top of C/L? Naturally, doc didn't have time to call me back himself. Questions? What could I possibly need to know??? I'm kind of confused as to this combination. Do any of you folks have similar tales? What would you suggest, and what would you expect from your neuro people? Looking forward to sharing with you. Thanks for being here, listserv. Enjoy! Rick McGirr ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn