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------------13862F7E625E0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Marge and Ida- Schizophrenia and psychosis induced by PD meds like l-dopa usually are distinguishable clinically. Usually at least in my experience the PD patient who is not demented- that is not suffering Alzheimer's-like memory deficits will experience a delusion or hallucination retaining a fair amount of insight- for instance seeing a relative who has been dead for years and then report it as "Y' know doc the strangest thin happened to me... It couldn't be true but it seemed so real. I doubt whether the mechanism for schizophrenia is totally an excess of dopamine or most of us who are taking sinemet would be psychotic. I suspect that the interuption of a series of events one of which involves dopamine transmission is involved in Schizophrenia. Also neuroleptics usually leave a lot to be desired in terms of their results in controling schizophrenic symptoms. And interestingly probably the most effective neuroleptic on the market is Clozaril(clozapine) which produced probably the least parkinsonian side effects. Also it is the drug of choice for l-dopa induced psychosis because it does not significantly interfere with dopamine trasmission in the basal ganglia. Prior to the availabilty of clozaril in this country we had the almost impossible task of decreasing the hallucinations and delusions of PD patients with only neuroleptics that made PD motor symptoms worse. My impression is that the 2 diseases are related in that both involve dopamine transmisions but they are not polar opposites. Regarding visual problems relating from excess retinal dopamine. Personally I tend to have light intollerance whe I am "off" more than when I am dyskinetic. If my obsevation is typical that would tend to go against your theory- but is an interesting point and maybe Jaqualine our neuro-ompthomologist- on the list has a more informed opinion than do I. You both pose interesting questions. Charlie ********************************************************** CHARLES T. MEYER, M.D. MADISON, WISCONSIN [log in to unmask] ********************************************************** ------------13862F7E625E0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii <HTML><BODY> <DT>Marge and Ida-</DT> <DT> </DT> <DT>Schizophrenia and psychosis induced by PD meds like l-dopa usually are distinguishable clinically. Usually at least in my experience the PD patient who is not demented- that is not suffering Alzheimer's-like memory deficits will experience a delusion or hallucination retaining a fair amount of insight- for instance seeing a relative who has been dead for years and then report it as "Y' know doc the strangest thin happened to me... It couldn't be true but it seemed so real. I doubt whether the mechanism for schizophrenia is totally an excess of dopamine or most of us who are taking sinemet would be psychotic. I suspect that the interuption of a series of events one of which involves dopamine transmission is involved in Schizophrenia. Also neuroleptics usually leave a lot to be desired in terms of their results in controling schizophrenic symptoms. And interestingly probably the most effective neuroleptic on the market is Clozaril(clozapine) which produced probably the least parkinsonian side effects. Also it is the drug of choice for l-dopa induced psychosis because it does not significantly interfere with dopamine trasmission in the basal ganglia. Prior to the availabilty of clozaril in this country we had the almost impossible task of decreasing the hallucinations and delusions of PD patients with only neuroleptics that made PD motor symptoms worse. </DT> <DT><BR> <BR></DT> <DT>My impression is that the 2 diseases are related in that both involve dopamine transmisions but they are not polar opposites. </DT> <DT> </DT> <DT>Regarding visual problems relating from excess retinal dopamine. Personally I tend to have light intollerance whe I am "off" more than when I am dyskinetic. If my obsevation is typical that would tend to go against your theory- but is an interesting point and maybe Jaqualine our neuro-ompthomologist- on the list has a more informed opinion than do I.</DT> <DT> </DT> <DT>You both pose interesting questions.</DT> <DT> </DT> <DT>Charlie<BR> **********************************************************<BR> CHARLES T. MEYER, M.D.<BR> MADISON, WISCONSIN<BR> [log in to unmask]<BR> **********************************************************<BR> </DT> </BODY> </HTML> ------------13862F7E625E0--