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I received a nice letter of welcome from Barb Patterson who suggested I send a message to introduce myself - so here goes. I am 42 years old and was diagnosed 3 1/2 years ago. I actually started showing symptoms about 8 years ago. Currently I am taking Sinemet (1/2 25/100 every three hours), Parlodel (2 - 2.5 mg a day), Eldepryl (2 - 5 mg. a day), and one Sinemet CR 25/100 before bed. I also recently started taking l - 50mg. of Zoloft a day for depression. Wow - that sounds like a ton of pills, doesn't it? I guess I'm used to it because, except for the Sinemet CR and Zoloft, I've been on this schedule for awhile. This routine keeps me going but the ups and downs all day make life pretty interesting. I'm sure most of you know what I'm talking about. There are three stages to my day - "on" where I'm just about "normal" - "off" where I experience very limited mobility and "super-on" where I'm dyskenetic. Fortunately I have a wonderful husband as a caregiver and do not have to work outside the home and two teenage sons who can drive me when necessary (what a scary experience!) and basically be my "hands". I really enjoy the information received from all of you and find it much more helpful than any advice from my neurologist. I'm ready to become an active participant and help others too. My one question is this - my neurologist tells me to take as much Sinemet as necessary to keep me comfortable but I've also heard that the less taken the better. It's tempting to follow his advice but I've got a lot of years ahead of me and want to do what's best. Any advice? Thanks. Debby Hurlbert ([log in to unmask])