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Dear Barb, Thankyou for your friendly welcome. It's good to be back in touch, Margaret and I have missed you and the other regulars. I trust you are keeping everything under control and we look forward to resuming our acquaintance with the other list members, but I think I will just reintroduce ourselves by saying that Margaret has had a major change in medication in the last twelve months or so. This was because she became quite paranoiac. The principal changes over a lengthy stay of 12 weeks in hospital, were that Artane was discontinued and she was introduced to the drug Clozaril (normally given for schizophrenia) but also having the useful "side-effect" of lessening Sinemet-induced dyskinesias. Before Clozaril, Margaret could tolerate only about 300 mg of Sinemet daily; now she can have about twice that amount and her mobility has improved. The best change though is in her mental condition. Apparently the artane was acting as an insidious poison, that had affected her mental alertness long before its more extreme effects became obvious. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, I can tell you this, but at the time it was far from obvious. At any rate, I feel I have regained my former companion and wife after a lengthy absence. After investigating the pros and cons of a palidotomy, the wheels have been put in motion for a sub-thalatomy. This is apparently thought to be more appropiate to her particular needs and we look forward to learning more from list members. The sub-thalatomy operation is new here, and is still being considered by the Australian medical ethics committee so it will be some months yet before it can be done. Best regards to all, Mark ----------- Mark Atyeo [log in to unmask] +61 6 286 2606