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Greetings everyone: This is Stan from Texas. I introduced myself earlier in the week. Since then I've gone through a horrible experience that I believe would be of interest to all of you. Wednesday morning (10/30/96), I awoke with severe abdominal cramps. Within an hour, it developed into diarrhea. I was also passing a lot of blood. Naturally, I was worried, in addition to feeling absolutely lousy. My wife and I recently moved to the country, and I had not needed to see a doctor since our move. The morning of the digestive system attack, I located one that ran a clinic in a small town nearby. When I arrived, he and the medical assistant went through all the proper procedures, as far as I could tell: obtain a medical history from the patient, take blood pressure and pulse, examine patient and discuss symptoms. Everything according to Hoyle, at that point. The doctor then explained what he thought was wrong, what he planned to do in the short term to pull me through, and what he wanted to do in the long term to make certain I did not have a serious condition. That's where I should have questioned his judgment, but since I was uneducated, I didn't. What was his error? He told me he was prescribing REGLAN to stop the cramps and diarrhea. (Note: I had fully explained about my Parkinson's and the drugs I took.) Not knowing any better, I went home and started downing this stuff every four hours. The next 48 hours (including the 24 in which I took eight doses of this drug) were pure hell! By Friday morning, I was experienced dyskenesia (something new), which kept me awake most of Thursday night; my regular doses of Sinemet were barely working, lasting only an hour at the most when previously they had been completely effective for 4 1/2 to 6 hours; my entire body hurt all the time; and I could barely walk. This -- mind you -- in contrast to a lifestyle where I felt and acted like a normal human most of the time as long as I took my Parkinson's drugs. Fearing that I had suddenly crossed an invisible Parkinson's line from mild symptoms to advanced crippling ones, I called my neurologist. When he found out the GP had given me Reglan, he hit the ceiling. "Don't ever take it again," he told me, "no matter what the circumstances." Stupid me. I trusted this new doctor. I should have checked my copy of the "PDR FAMILY GUIDE TO PRESCRIPTION DRUGS." It' s the consumer edition of the "PHYSICIANS DESK REFERENCE TO PRESCRIPTION DRUGS." Stupid doctor. He should have checked his copy. Under the heading "SIDE EFFECTS," the book says: "Reglan will cause symptoms similar to Parkinson's Disease." Under the heading, "SPECIAL WARNING," is the quote I love: "If you have Parkinson's Disease, you should not be given Reglan since the drug may make your Parkinson's symptoms worse." What's the lesson here, fellow Parkinsonians? Don't fly by blind faith at everything a doctor tells you. They're human, after all. And triple-check and recheck the interactions of ANY prescription drugs with your Parkinsons medications before you put the first dose in your mouth. I learned this the hard way. It took 48 hours after I had swallowed my last dose of Reglan for it to flush out of my system. Now, it's Saturday afternoon, and everything is back to normal. I hope my experiences will be helpful to all of you and help prevent anyone from suffering through anything like this. Regards, Stan Houston ([log in to unmask])