Subject: Levodopa Dosage Analysis Program.
Hello everyone. This is a formal announcement of the availability of a web
site containing information regarding the computer program which I developed
to help me regulate my Levodopa intake.
The web site actually belongs to Ron Vetter, who has generously made room
for my pages. In these pages you will find: First, a detailed description of
what you will need to do to supply me with data which I can analyse, and
Second, a description of how the program works. This is really for interest;
the important bit for someone wanting to use the program is section 1 (and
note the hot link to a second page showing how to prepare the data.)
Potential users should be aware of the following points:
1) The program is most relevant to PWPs who have been taking Levodopa-based
Drugs (Sinemet, Madopar, or generic equivalents) for some time, and who
are starting to find difficulty in achieving a stable response to the
tablets.
2) The recording method, which is your half of the job, calls for some care,
and a deal of dedication, and you will need to take this part of the job
seriously if the outcome is to be useful. As the saying goes " Garbage in:
Garbage out".
3) I am, to a degree, using you folk as test subjects. To data, only two
people beside myself have been through this process. One of the un-answered
questions is: How many people will the program help, knowing as we do how
PD can produce such a range of characteristics? I don't know, and until
a few more people have tried it, I can only promise you an imnteresting time
with a potential reward of improved results from the drugs - By which I mean
fewer and shorter Off periods, and fewer and shorter periods of Diskinesia.
4) There are two reasons why I cannot simply hand out a floppy disc with the
Program on it and leave you to play by yourselves:
1) The analysis stage does require a degree of experience and judgement to
get the best out of it. That is where I come in. I hope that with a
broader base of experience, I can 'educate' the program, and eventually
make myself redundant.
2) My computer (Made by an English company called Acorn) is a great computer,
User friendly, fast, etc., etc.( you know how we like to boast about our
computers). However, Its Operating System is unique to Acorn. It is not
compatible with the IBM PC operating systems ( DOS, Windoze 3.1 or
Windoze 95) or with the Apple Operating Systems ). Although we can
converse on the Internet, any program disc that I sent out would be
gibberish to your computers.
If you have taken all that on board and are still interested, browse through
the web pages and have a go. I suggest that to avoid wasting your time, you
first send me no more than 2 days records, so that I can correct any basic
errors before you put too much effort in. After that, I will need about 5 days
of recording to do the job proprely.
The pages are to be found at this URL :
http://www.ridgecrest.ca.us/~rfvetter/brianspd.html
I understand that some people may be unable to go straight to this address.
If you have trouble, try first going to Rons Site:
http://www.ridgecrest.ca.us/ and once you are in, enter the rest
of the URL- ~rfvetter/brianspd.html
My Regards to you all, Brian Collins.
