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Dear Rich: My husband is the PD patient in our family. The neurologist asks often about confusion incident to increases in Sinemet and other medications, especially bromocryptine (Permax). He's never had any mental effects of any of the medication, except for a single time when the Permax dosage provided by the pharmacy was five times stronger than prescribed. The effect was frightening with palpitations and heavy sweating. My husband now takes Sinemet CR50/200 (2 daily) and Sincemet non-CR 25/100 (1 daily). Permax has been increased slowly from .05mg 3 times a day to .75 3 times a day, a regimen that seems to smooth out the day much better than a heavier reliance on Sinemet with its dramatic highs and lows. To answer in a circuitous way your original question, my husband has not had mental distortions from the medications, but seems to be quite sensitive to Permax. Is your father taking Permax or another form of bromocryptine? I understand it's very strong stuff. k. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mrs. Karin M. Beros, MSO [log in to unmask] International and Area Studies voice: (510) 642-8542 Office of the Dean, 260 Stephens Hall fax: (510) 642-9466 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Wed, 14 Dec 1994, Rich Simons wrote: > I just joined this list. Thanks to Barbara Patterson for managing it! > > My father has had Parkinson's for about 8 years, and is now 74. He has just > moderate tremor and lives alone quite effectively. I have a couple of > questions. > > 1) Recently he started having mild hallucinations and some mental confusion. > This seems to have been associated with an increase in the Sinemet dosage. A > reduced dosage appears for now to have eased the problem. Has anyone run into > this? > > 2) In addition, for the past year or so he is having increased difficulty > remembering recent decisions or events. This is fairly subtle, but very real. > The neurologist says it's probably an unrelated problem, and may simply be a > matter of age. Has anyone seen or had similar experiences related > specifically to Parkinson's? > > 3) Is there an organization for relatives of Parkinson's sufferers? > > Thanks. > -- Rich Simons ([log in to unmask]) -- >