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dear Ida As you can read from my previous mails, I'm dealing with a pharmacokinetics model that allows me to stay as close as possible of the " 0 condition as defined by Brian Collins " definition that I reproduces (sans sa permission) below from -------------------http://www.ridgecrest.ca.us/~rfvetter/brianspd.html---- -------------------- Understanding and Using the Condition Scale The Condition scale is numbered from +2 through to -2, with zero being the condition which we are all striving to achieve. Examples of criteria to define these stages of condition are given below, but in general terms it is much more helpful if you regard the +2 to -2 scale as a smooth progression from the +2 condition through to the -2 condition, not as a staircase where the only values are +2, +1, 0, -1 , etc. Remember two things: it does get easier with practice, and 20/20 hindsight is positively encouraged. By all means review the daily result, to ensure that you have used a consistent definition of a particular condition. Definitions of Conditions: +2 - Strongly Overdosed (Note: not in the dangerous context; merely a condition where you experience severe dyskinesia (random uncommanded movements) or whatever symptom you experience when you have clearly taken too much levodopa. For instance, I spill a lot of beer in this condition! You may find it impossible to sit still, but when you walk your arms and legs tend to go off in different directions. Too much time spent in this condition could produce muscle strains. +1 - Some dyskinesia, but not as distressing as +2. This level represents a condition in which life would be just tolerable: Mild dyskinesia; walking is not too difficult. 0 - The end of the Rainbow! Too often this is a condition which you encounter for about 5 minutes as you proceed smartly from an over dosed to an under-dosed condition. It is not difficult to recognize, even after 17 years. -1 - Mild tremor of the arms or legs, mild muscle stiffness. I can still control the mouse on my computer, but it jumps around a lot. Walking is possible, but there is some tendency to shuffle. As with +1, a condition which you could live with if you had to. -2 - Your condition with no medication. Severe Tremors and muscular Rigidity. Can only walk with a shuffle. Difficulty getting up from a chair. I spill a lot of beer in this condition too! -----------------------end from Brian Collins ------------------------------------------- Doing so, I was driven to try to understand what is happening when the level of available dopa is changing . i.e. during the rise time of a dose. That is, in-between the time at which my program warns me that it is time to refuel and the time the dose has reached it's maximal amplitude. The changes I feel are very tiny. And the 20 minutes half period phenomenon I write about shows the tip of it's nose (from French : " montre le bout de son nez ") when my condition goes from " -0.5 " to " 0.5 " on Brian's scale. And it is not always easy to confirm that the program is right. (Even with software control, I stay the " chef "). I will try to explain : A dose comes always after an other. At the time a new dose is taken, the potential in dopa due to previous dose(s) is still diminishing . i.e. : the floor on which the new dose will be sited is not flat. And it takes time to the new dose to compensate for the decay. Let say 15 minutes. >From that time, the potential in dopa starts to increase. For the same reason (ground isn't flat), the max amplitude is reached one hour later . Assuming I'm right dealing with the 40 minutes music that tells to me that my CNS requires an increase of the level of dopa for 20 minutes then stop for the next 20 minutes and start again 20 minutes later ..... Assuming the refueling has been made at the right time - the dopa level (DL) will start growing precisely when my CNS is asking for. - 20 minutes later my CNS would expect DL to stop growing but it don't. - 20 minutes later DL is still growing and that is good for my CNS - and 1h15 after the dose has been taken, my CNS expects a stop and it is good to have DL to stop growing also. amy CNS has been happy 3 times against 1 Now, If the dose is taken 15 minutes before my CNS expects DL to stop growing. -->My CNS is NOT happy 3 times against 1. And I'm sure it doesn't like that. Some kind of wrong tuning is made. Even with DL being above the level my CNS needs, my condition is worth than that I experience with very few available dopa. And I have only one solution : Wait until DL has come to a level lower than its value at the time the mistake was made. Then try again but, at the right time . Don't forget I am using only Modopar. And there is no other drug to damp the effects. salutations ditinguees. MEG