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Dear Brenda and David: Thank you for your possting. I believe you are asking very pertinent questions and I've been wrestling with very similar ones mysself. Please forgive the burdensome length of what I'm about to put to you. I'm bucking 80 and was diagnosed a year and a half ago. My neurologist and I have titrated the dosage of sinemet to six 25/100 C/LDopa per 24 hours. We have tried and abandoned Eldepryl and C/R sinemet. Other than 1/2 of a baby aspirin I use no other medication. I've all the PD symptoms ever dreamed about but the main ones are shaking, gait (shuffling feet) lack of coordination and fatigue. It is fatigue which I want to discuss with you. From the outset we had it drilled into us that protein, while necessary in the diet, should for PD patients be taken at a rate of 1/7 that of carbohydrates. Further sinemet is best taken on an empty stomach so that more of the L-Dopa ingested and partly protected by C-Dopa can reach and go through the blood brain barrier. There a carboxyl group is removed from the L-Dopa by an enzyme yielding dopamine, the neurotransmitter we need there. There is merit to the foregoing and it is accepted world wide. However, other information tells us that daily protein intake for the healthy human should be close to 0.36 grams/lb of body weight. Estimating the protein in my 7 to 1 diet I find that my protein intake is between 20-25% short. i suspect that this shortage slowly and increasingly showing up as fatigue and is a key factor for me. I haven't yet gotten approval from my neurologist but my plan is to stepwise increase protein up to and beyond the 0.36 gram/lb level. I plan to do this by taking in snacks before bedtime the necessary grams of protein when motor activity, balance and gait etc. are quiet in slumberland. Your posting re tyrosine is interesting. My chemistry was new 58 years ago and it may appear russty to you. Nonetheless please note that the turkey, tuna, chicken (and eggs, cheese and milk) provide all or most of the essential amino acids. These include the Levo form of tyrosine,phenylalanine, leucine, theonine, valine,alanine, methionine, lysine and tryptophane. In all cases except tryptophane these amino acids have a lower molecular weight than L-Dopa. They too then, as is the case with L-Dopa can easily pass through the blood brain barrier. In each case the amine product obtained by decarboxylation of the acid is quite similar to dopamine. It may be that some or all of these amines have neurotransmitter capabilities. If so, this should become apparent by a diet which includes a massive increase of protein taken at bedtime and metabolized during sleep. I would also expect a major improvement in fatigue. If the chemisstry is of interest to you I can send it to you by snail mai if you send me your address, or by fax if you give me your fax number. I cannot send it by email because the machine won't do it. There we compare the amino acid L-Dopa with L-Phenylalanine. A similar chart can be made with each of the amino acids I listed and the "pssibel advantages of Phenylalanine over L-Dopa" will be applicable to each of them (except L-Tryptophane). Sam Kalkstein