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>Hi, Rachel, You said... > My husband was diagnosed with PD at the age of 53. He is now 64 and > taking 25/100 (8 tablets) Sinemet daily plus 0.25mg (1.5 tablets) > Permax. I have three questions I would love answered: > 1. Is there such a thing as "remission" in Parkinsons Disease? > 2. Has anyone undergone acupuncture for severe dyskinesia? > 3. Is there a cure/solution for severe dyskinesia caused by Sinemet > intake? 1. In my 64 year old wife Margaret's experience, any "remissions" have been transient affairs and been far from complete. In short they can be summed up as "having a good day" as compared to a bad one. 2. Margaret is very sensitive to Sinemet and cannot tolerate more than about 150 mg daily without having severe dyskinesia. However, she definitely does get short term benefit from acupuncture. The dyksinesia subsides almost immediately and remains less pronounced for a few days after treatment. However, I would stress that this result has been achieved only from one man who seemed to know what he was doing and who did not use electrical stimulation. We had previously visited other practitioners without any discernable benefit at all. So if you at first don't get relief, it might be worthwhile trying someone else. 3. Apart from the temporary relief afforded by acupuncture, we have found that the only "cure" for dyskinesia is less Sinemet. Margaret, who is now wheelchair-bound, would be far more incapacitated by 800 mg of Sinemet daily than by the PD. Instead, she supplements the limited amount of Sinemet she can tolerate with a daily intake of 30 mg of Parlodel and 15 mg of Artane. She did try Permax instead of Parlodel, building up to a considerably higher dosage than that you are having. However, it wasn't as effective as the Parlodel, and we found that elevated dosges of Permax caused a certain amount of mental confusion. 4. In summary, Margaret experiences a definite trade-off between Parkinsonian immobility and dyskinesia. We are constantly trying to juggle the timing and frequency of dosages and the process isn't helped by day to day variations in Margaret's response to medication and by the severity of the PD itself. Some of these variations are understandable, for example, stress and tiredness exacerbate both PD and dyskinesia, Others, however, are less predictable, and lead those (including nursing staff) who don't know better, to conclude that because Margaret can /can't do now what she couldn't/could do yesterday, she is putting on some kind of act. Still, life wasn't meant to be easy was it ? Take Care Mark.