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Dear Bryce & Everyone: Camilla forwarded your request about med interactions and stomach problems to me on the CARE list. (I haven't abandoned the Parkinsn list but am off temporarily due to inability to handle the volume of mail). My husband has PD and is a physician. He is quite familiar with the drugs used to treat PD and their interactions. He also has a history of severe stomach problems (even before PD) and now has gastritis. His answers to your queries are as follows: 1) Yes, PD drugs can have side effects on the stomach. It's well-known that Sinemet can be a problem. That's why it is recommended to take it with food. However, many people on this list find it more effective to them without food initially. Hopefully you'll get some feedback from them. 2) No, permax should not cause much stomach trouble 3) The big culprit is Eldepryl. My husband had terrible reactions to it bringing on severe gastritis. He could never tolerate it. Since there is serious doubt as to whether it does any good for PD now, I would suggest you get as much literature on it as you can and also question your doctor about it's effectiveness vs. it's potential side effects. 4) Yes, gastritis can be caused by bacterial infection, esp. Helicobacter. When my husband gets a stomach infection he takes 6 weeks of Prilosec, the first 2 weeks alone and then 2 weeks with biaxin (an antibiotic to treat the infection), and then the last 2 weeks with Prilosec alone again. If your mother has lost so much weight, it seems to me that her doctors out to care very much. It appears they are doing something about it with the upper GI and the prilosec. Our comments above are based on our own experience and do not reflect a recommendation to you without consulting your own/your mother's physician. Every person is different and has potentially different interactions with meds etc. Sincerely, Delana Vaughan (CG 33 yrs for 2 in tandem)