Print

Print


Sid Gudes,
Our neurologists have prescribed Clozarile (Clozapine) for sinemet induced
confusion and hallucinations. It was originally released for schizophrenia at
levels as much as 500 to 700 mg per day. At that level there is the risk of
damage to the blood cells. Hence they require a blood test every week to ensure
that there is no harm being done .
The level that my wife started at was 12.5 mg per day . She is now at 50 mg per
day and slowly improving. The hallucinations are essentially all gone. There is
still some confusion. She has been on this stuff for a little over a year. there
was concern about low blood pressure w, which she had and which is a side effect
of clozaril. However, by slowly increasing the amount of clozaril, AND reducing
the sinemet the low blood pressure and fainting went away. The improvement was
very dramatic when we were able to reduce the sinemet from 8, 25/100 per  day to
7, 25/100 per day. There was a definite threshhold effect. The nausea that she
had also disappeared with the reduction in sinemet.
Now she is beginning to show some slight dyskinesia which leads me to believe
that she is becoming more sensitive to the sinemet. I will talk to our
neurologist about some slight reduction in the sinemet.
She has always suffered from constipation; even before we learned of her PD. She
also suffers from a burning sensation , which is sometimes alleviated by the
sinemet. when she complained of pelvic pain , our family doctor recommended
Agoral, an over-the-counter, anti-constipation remedy. As the constipation
condition improves her confusion also seems to be reduced.  This is an aside,
but I remember reading that there are neurons in the gut. I also seem to
remember reading that autopsies performed on PD sufferers have shown that the
cilia were all gone. Could it be that the constipation is not the effect of PD
but the effect of another condition  and that the long-term constipation is also
destroying the dopamine-producing neurons in the gut.
I suggest that you check with your neurologist about th eadvisability of
prescribing clozaril.
Good luck,
Irv Williams

[log in to unmask]