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In June, I wrote to the list asking if anyone had had experience dealing
simultaneously with cancer and PD and if they would let me know of any
"lessons learned." I had just been found to have breast cancer; in 1982, I
was diagnosed with parkinsonism. I am 53 and take the following PD
medications: Sinemet 25/100 (4), Parlodel (3 5mg capsules), Eldepryl (2 5 mg
capsules, and
Klonopin (3 .5 mg tablets).

I received several much-appreciated responses. However, I think this is an
area about which information should be gathered from patients and doctors and
made generally available. There must be a fairly large pool of cancer+PD
people at any given time who have many questions they want answered before
undertaking chemotherapy. For me, an extensive search by several people of
the many resources available on the Internet plus research at a large medical
library turned up almost nothing except pharmaceutical information about drug
compatibility and two comments from medical professionals.

Below, in case it might help someone, I will outline my experience to date.

I am 3 weeks into a four-course (28 days per course) treatment using the
drugs cytoxan and adriamycin (CA). The 5-FU often given at the same time was
eliminated from the regimen because one doctor noted that this drug had at
least temporarily worsened PD symptoms in two of her patients with PD and
rectal cancer. I take two anti-emetics by IV before the chemo agents to
prevent nausea (successfully so far): Zofran and Ativan.

I have had extended and frequent periods of fatigue and general weakness
(much worse than before the chemo); however, the extremes were smoothed out
by changing my Sinemet schedule and temporarily (I hope) increasing the dose
to 4 1/2 or 4 3/4 tablets per day (taken in 1/4 and 1/2 tablet doses
frequently throughout the day and infrequently at night). Tremor has
increased, but dyskenesia has diminished.

The main sources of possible trouble related to my "PD" the doctors were
concerned about are 1) that my system might be less tolerant of the chemo
drugs because I was already fighting a serious disease, 2) that my
PD-associated constipation could result in damage to the walls of the colon
and be a source of infection when white blood cell counts are low, and 3)
that nausea might be more of a problem than usual because of the PD. Because
of my often erratic movements, a port was implanted to make the infusion of
drugs and drawing of blood samples easier and safer; also, the port has no
external parts that I might accidentally damage.

Sandra Edwards ([log in to unmask] and [log in to unmask])