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For Bob & Joy Graham and Dennis Greene

I am afraid that I have unintentionally misled you with my story about
Eldepryl. The nighttime tablet was one of two per day prescribed for me,
with vague instructions to take one in the morning, and one at night.
There was certainly no hint that it could cause sleeplessness or as in
my case, those incredibly vivid dreams. Don't forget that at that time
nobody knew about its tricky little ways. As I recall it, Eldepryl was
available some time before its rise to fame, as a MAO B blocker, but
it was not popular as its effect was puny compared with Sinemet, and
Parlodel. (Permax was not then available). Then the story of the Drug
addicts who mistakenly made and took MPTP (which blew out the entire
Substantia Nigra) hit the headlines.

Some neurologists began to speculate that all PWPs maybe got there by
being exposed at some point in their life to MPTP, which chopped out
most of their SN cells, leaving the PD symptoms to show up maybe years
later. IF this speculation was true, apparently Eldepryl, taken prior
to exposure to MPTP, has the ability to stop the harmful effects.

It then became fashionable to prescribe Eldepryl 'just in case',which
is why it was prescribed for me. I was mot enthusiastic, because while
I could buy MPTP as a potential cause of PD, I found it hard to believe
that it was THE cause. So when the nightmares began, that was a good
enough reason for me to drop it.

Maybe I am a bit paranoid about it, but I view with horror the thought
that my mind - the essential me - could be changed or altered by some
chemical prescribed by a specialist who maybe wasn't playing with a
full deck of cards. It has happened twice to me - in a small way as
described above, and much more seriously with Parlodel, which is very
high on my hate list.

Incidentally, the Free Radicals theory of why Eldepryl is good for you
came along much later, (as far as I was concerned anyway)

--
Brian Collins  <[log in to unmask]>