Brian,
you wrote:
>b) Amantadine STILL sounds like a mildly effective drug suitable for
early cases of PD, with potentially worse side-effects than levodopa,
and whose job could be done as effectively with a low dose of levodopa.
>c) Watch out for Parlodel -I do have personal experience of that and it is BAD.
I have only ever encountered one person (He is on this list) who has a good
word for Parlodel, and I have had many bad reports
I was diagnosed with PD 4 yrs ago. Started with 100mg Amantadine, increase to
200. Did well. Eliminated right arm tremors. Added .5mg Eldepryl. Added
another .5 Eldepryl. Tremors returned right arm and right leg. Dropped back to
.5, tremors ceased. Stayed with same dosage 3 yrs. Then tremors in arm became
more pronounced. Downside.. Kept waking up during the night. Started 2-3
times, ended 6-8. Neurologist stopped Amantadine, added Parlodel. Tried for 3
weeks. Murder. Back to awakening 3-4 times, felt like a zombie all day. Did
not reduce tremors. Begged for Amantadine. Tremors slightly better. Back to
no sleep. Obviously time to move on. Had resisted starting Sinemet, but yours
and other letters convinced me it was time. Of special help was the advice to
not treat the neurologist as God (be he a he or a she) He PX'd ½ 25/100 CR twice
a day and no Eldepryl or Amantadine. Worse tremors in arm and leg I ever
experienced. Couldn't even drive a car. Now Marjorie has been a great help
thru out this ordeal. She held my hand and was my adviser in chief as to what to
expect. She suggested I request regular Sinomet so he PX 10/100, ½ pill in the
morning, ½ at night and to also take the Amantadine. No way. I was back to
only awakening 1-2 times. Its been two weeks now With Marjories suggestions
(no, she's not prescribing anything ,just relating her personal experiences)
what appears to be working is ½ 7.00 am, ½ 10.00 am, ½ 12.30 pm, ½ 3.00 pm, ½
5.30 pm and 1 at 11.00 pm. Might need a little fine tuning but tremors
minimised, and little ON/OFF effect. Also seem more alert most of the time.
Conclusions: Amantadine worked for about 2-3yrs
Eldepryl did not appear to help much and increased dose
detrimental
Parledol not for me (at least not at this time
Should have started Sinemet earlier.
Keep up the good work
Albert (Joe) Young Jr. [log in to unmask]
