On Tue 29 Oct, Cindy Birk Conley wrote:
> Thanks to everyone for their support in getting my mom to a neurologist. My
> next question is how long should it take for *positive* results from
> Sinemet? We started Friday afternoon, 25/100 pills 4 times a
> day--breakfast, lunch, supper and bedtime. Sbe has been nauseous (sic) most
> of the time, sleeping poorly, some muscles "waking up" but with lots of
> pain, weakness, and more depression than usual.
>
>(snip)
> Is this why our GP was so slow to refer her, or is this a consequence of
> waiting too long for treatment? I'm giving her maalox, axid, tums and other
> gas pills to help her stomach, put flex-all type creme on her hands and
> shoulder, and dug out all the exercise sheets left by the home care nurse.
> The neurologist said it might be three or four weeks before the medicine
> worked, so do we keep her on it til then, or try to have him check her when
> she goes for tests next week, or call the office in a couple of days???
>
>
> Cindy Birk Conley
> [log in to unmask]
>
Hello Cindy, I am sorry to read of your problems; it certainly would appear
that your mom is at least well past the early stages of PD, and is in the
area where the size of the dose is becoming more important. From your
description, I suspect that some of the things which you refer to ("muscles
waking up" for instance may be symptomatic of an overdose condition. For
instance, if I were to take the tablets provided for your mom, I would be
alternately heavily overdosed with wild arm and leg movements, followed by
a period of off, when I would be stuck in my chair and only able to get out
of it with help. That cycle would repeat after each tablet.
If all or part of what I have described is familiar to you, then there
a simple but potentially highly effective thing that you can try - In view
of her nausea problems, it may be worth trying anyway, and it is not
something that would worry your doctor either. That is to break the Sinemet
in half, and take the half tablets at about 2 hour intervals, so she will
be taking the same amount of medication, but smoothed out to avoid the
highs and lows.
Your mom should eventually get over the feelings of nausea (not a problem
for me luckily), and if she does, you should try to time her meals so that the
tablet dose is taken at least 20 minutes before a meal. Taking the tablet
after meals is the usual way if nausea is a problem, but the trouble is that
it also can reduce the effectiveness of the dose.
I wish your mom well, Brian Collins
--
Brian Collins <[log in to unmask]
