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Dear Elik: I go to a support group for Mentally Ill ea. Wednesday. We have 2 son’s which have a mental disease of some type. The group I belong to tries to get the mentally ill / homeless off the street clean them up give them housing and some a part-time job. Approx. 6 weeks ago our leader (psychiatrist) flew to Florida for the introduction of the Eli Lily (Olanzapine)which could replace both Closaril and Resperdol if it works. He immediately started his patients on the new medication with fairly good results for the short time (weeks only)which they have been on it. Advice he normally gives is -do not go off the present medication when you try Olanzapine since it does not interfere. Slowly withdraw the Clozaril over a month or so. Some patients he found are still on a combination of the two drugs since their symptoms reappeared when he reduced the Clozaril too low. Some are totally off the Clozaril taking only the Olanzapine and doing better. Last Elik, the drug is so new and was only tested on 4000 patients all of which had some mental disorder (none with PD). The drug appeared to be the drug of the century since 80% of the trial patients did so well. The drug they claim is better, Cheaper and has no side effects. Good luck, Henry Guttentag Elik E. Hirsch wrote: > > Hi to all: I have a simple "little" question that I hope can be answered by > someone. > > Some history: My father has Parkinson and belongs to H.I.P. Every > wednesday he goes to HIP for his blood work. My mother then goes on > Friday, takes the blood work from 1 HIP center to another where the > Doctor prescribing is. She then waits for 2 hours for the Doctor to > glance at the reports. Then another hour until he writes a prescription, > which she has to drive to the pharmacy to be filled. "Why doesn't HIP just > fax these things? Why does it take so long for the Doctor to glance and > write a prescription?", you ask. I don't know. I just don't have the > brain power to compete with those people. > > Recently, though, the Doc at HIP has decided that the medication is not > worth the trouble (see above for explanation of trouble) . He does not want > the responsibility to prescribe, he does not want to see my mother every > friday, he just does not want!!! > > SO, he decided to give my dad a new medication called Olanzapine > (Zyprexa). This medication (a cousin to Clozapine) is supposed to have > all the benefits but none of the bad stuff (blood test etc..). I know > Olanzapine is a brand new medication, it was recently in the paper, but > does anyone have any experience with it?? When my mother asked the Doctor > what is his experience with it, he answered that it was pretty good. All > in all, he has 157 patients on it and they are all doing fine. When my > mother asked how many of those patients have Parkinson's he said NONE. > Now, I don't mind a great new medication, I just have a problem with my > father being a guiny-pig. This of course is the same doctor who does not > see the benefit of the Clozapine on my dad, when it is quite the > opposite. My father is doing much better with it!!!!! > > Lastly, It took us a long time to get my father on Clozapine. The doctor > did not want to listen to us and to Dr. Greene from Columbia (who wrote a > great letter..). Instead he gave my father Respidol (sp?) which had a > great NEGATIVE effect on my dad. That was a pretty bad Heart-wrenching > fiasco of seeing, which did not end when he stopped taking that awful > medication - you see, you have to wait until it completly is out of the > system, plus time to get an appointment (all in all a MONTH). Because of > this painful lesson, we do not want to lose what we have accomplished for > something that may not be good. > > If anyone has any experience, please post it or e-mail me directly. > > THANKS > > [log in to unmask]