On Thu 30 Jan, will johnston wrote:
> At 08:30 PM 1/29/97 -0500, you wrote:
> >On Wed 29 Jan, Marty Rose wrote:
> >> I have recently (this week) started a more vigorous excercise routine.
> >> I have been pretty inactive since summer. My questions concern Sinemet
> >> requirements whe exercising. I am noticing that it wears off sooner
> >> than normal. Do we need to increase the dosage when exercising and by
> >> how much? Thanks for any feed back you might give me.
> >>
> >> Marty Rose 56/PD 9 years
> >> [log in to unmask]
>
>
> Marty,
>
> I find that the type of exercise makes a tremendous difference. Walking and
> a little jogging does not seem to use up the dopamine. Yard type work which
> involves gross or substantial movement of the arms & torso make little
> difference.
>
> Exercise involving fine motor skills uses me up [and the Ldopa/dopamine] in
> a hurry. If I have to handle papers, screw in a screw with an ordinary
> screw driver, count paper money, etc, I am "off" rather quickly.
>
> Will
> And here's to long "ons" and short "offs"
>
> WILL JOHNSTON 4049 OAKLAND SCHOOL ROAD
> SALISBURY, MD 21804-2716
> 410-543-0110
> Pres A.P.D.A. DelMarVa Chapter
>
>
Hello Marty and Will. Will: I find your experience difficult to explain
based on the report which I quoted in my previous post. This says that if
you allow up to 1 hour after taking a tablet before you start exercise,
your blood levodopa levels will be unaffected by the exercise.
The other point which you raise about jobs which require fine motor skills
using your dopamine very quickly, is equally hard to understand. As I
understand it, dopamine can be imagined as a small lever, which switches
powerful devices (our muscles). The dopamine merely instructs the
muscles to expand or contract, and is not used at a greater rate when
we are thinking hard, nor when we are exercising violently.
I would suggest that what your experience shows, Will, is that you can
do the jobs such as sweeping the yard in a condition where you are at a
relatively low level of medication - that is, more Off than On. - a state
in which you could not possibly cope with delicate jobs. In fact,
delicate jobs demand a greater degree of control from our medication
than coarse physical work, and it is much more difficult to achieve the
correct tablet dose to allow you to do the fine work for a prolonged
period of time.
What I am trying to do here is find explanations for your experience
which are consistent with the findings in Paper A, which strikes me as a
well-thought-out piece of work which should be respected. As far as the
original question about the duration of a tablet goes, i suggest that if
you check, you may find that you were getting a part of the penalty
due to starting your exercise too soon after taking the tablet.
On a purely practical note, I strongly suggest that the most effective
way of coping with shorter duration of tablets while exercising ( i.e.
the experts got it wrong, and it wouln't be the first time) is to bring
forward the time for the next tablet, and not to take an increased dose,
as that would probably exacerbate (good word, that) any tremor which you
may have.
I would be interested in your views
P.S In response to Joe Bruman's delightful description of the sky at night
having holes where the light shines in, I quote a verse by that renowned
expert and eccentric Spike Milligan on the subject:
There are holes in the sky where the rain gets in
but they're ever so small - that's why rain is thin.
Regards,
--
Brian Collins <[log in to unmask]>
