On Sun 26 Jan, Jacqueline Winterkorn, PhD, MD wrote:
> I would appreciate your input in answering these questions posed by a
> colleague, trying to establish guidelines in patient care:
> 1) What is the largest dose of bromocriptine you have ever used ?
> 2) What side effects have been seen with the higher doses?
> Thanks.
> Jacquie
>
>
Hello Jacquie,
I should first explain that I have bad personal experience with
Bromocriptine where over a period of about 2 months, after being prescribed
15 mg (3 capsules) per day, I began to show signs of paranoia (Not to me, of
course: I thought it was the rest of the world who were against me! Things got
petty bad until I was pursuaded that something was wrong, stopped taking the
bromo, and within 2 weeks I was back to normal. I look back on that episode
with horror, and although it may be on one end of the distribution curve of
effects, and I acknowledge that quite a lot of people seem able to take it
without personality changes, I remain suspicious of it.
A friend of mine who lives nearby was prescribed 9 capsules of Bromocriptine
by a specialist who should have known better. I went to see how he was coping,
and had to sit and listen while he explained how his central heating boiler
was emitting rays which were dragging him around the house! I urged his wife to
wean him off the bromo, and within a few weeks, he was back to normal.
In short, Bromocriptine (which was the only Dopamine agonist available at the
time when the above events occured) does an acceptable job as an agonist, but
in my view, and especially at dose levels above 15 mg per day presents a risk
of personality change which is too high. There are now available better
alternatives with lower risk of side effects (eg Pergolide; permax in the USA).
As you are no doubt aware, nothing is simple with Parkinson's, and I should
warn you thet there are a few people who have experienced the reverse
effects (i.e. Permax bad; Bromo good ! ) I think it fair to say that they are in a minority group however.
I hope this is what you were wanting.
Regards,
--
Brian Collins <[log in to unmask]>
