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To: All First I must admit to "lurking" for about a month. My wife (the one with PD) and I would like to say how much we appreciate the sharing of information we have found in this news group. It is a help to not only us, but also to the members of our support group here in Gaithersburg, MD. It has not been possible to print all the messages coming across the ne, but have taken in the items that have come up over time and a few that seemed of special interest to several members. Mostly things like the messages on pallidotomy and blue glasses. My wife (64 at the time) was diagnosed with PD in December 1993. She had been having a lot of trouble with energy , difficulty writing and mobility. She had been unable to do most of the things that she enjoyed doing in the yard and could not do housework without great effort. The neurologist startted her Sinemet immediaetly increasing the dose from 1/2 of a 10/100 3 times a day. This was increased by 1/2 tablet each time over a period of several weeks until she got to 1 tablet 25/100 4 times a day. At first she was taking them with meals and having fairly good results. At about 3 months sshe was having difficulty getting up in the morning and the doctor put here on 1/2 of a 50/200 CR at bedtime. This has worked very well. She was starting to have some off periods and the support group suggested that she might try taking her medication on a reguler schedule, like every 4 hours. This produced another improvement. About 3 months ago she started having more off periods at about 3 to 3 1/2 hours so the doctor suggested that she start taking her sinemet every 3 hours. This has almost eliminated the off periods. The strange part is that she takes her last 25/100 at 6PM and can go until bedtime (11:30PM) without any problems. Dyskenesia has not been a problem and tremor has been almost nonexistent, which we are verys greatfull for. The support group has about 12 members with PD and meets every Wednesday morning for 1 1/2 hours. We have an exercise leader come in and give 1/2 hour of movement and breathing exercises. Some of the members of the group are in the more advanced stages of PD and have severe dyskenesia, but they do as many of the exercises as they can. One of the members is most interested in the information on pallidotomy, so she has appreciated the information a great deal. Our group leader brings a lot of imformation along to share with us and leads a discussion session and sharing for the remainder of the 1 1/2 hours. We are fortunate to have a support group that meets so frequently and gives the opportunity to share more often. Thaks for sharing all the valuable information in this news group. Woody and Anetta Schneider ------------------------------------------------- [log in to unmask] (Woody Schneider) Gaithersburg,MD -------------------------------------------------