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I thought I'd report our latest experience with changing Dad's drugs. First, a brief recap for any of our newcomers. Dad's 69 yrs old, and has been diagnosed for 7 years, or so. He's had a mild tremor, but his most prevalent symptoms are "freezing", and a "slowness of thought." (He's described his mental slowness as "it takes longer for me to process things.") Anyway, back in early November we (Mom, Dad, my sister, and me) went to a Motion Disorder Specialist for a second opinion (at Dad's neurologist's recommendation). The recommendations were: 1. stop the Eldepryl 2. stop the Symmetryl 3. switch from Sinemet CR to "regular" Sinemet 4. add Zyprexa for paranoia / hallucinations if necessary 1&2 were easy. Mom let Dad's system adjust to that for 2 weeks, then switched early one Monday morning to the "regular" Sinemet. 4 days later Dad was admitted to the hospital. He was stiff, disoriented, argumentative, etc. etc. etc. 2 weeks in the hospital and he was relatively well adjusted to the "new" dose of Sinemet, but required extensive rehabilitation. 4 weeks of hospital rehab, and Dad moved into his new "home" -- the nursing home affiliated with their community. He thinks it's for long-term rehab, and it might be, but it's likely more long-term than that, given his balance, confusion and mood swings. Ok. We're up to the present. Dad's been in the NH for 4 weeks now, and he went to see his regular neurologist. Since Dad's been a bit paranoid, the neuro suggested starting Dad on the Zyprexa. One tablet per day. The next morning the nurse gave Dad one 5mg Zyprexa tablet. (Remember that, one tablet.) He started drooling, lost continence, became combative, stiff, more tremor than usual, his voice dropped from it's low level to almost nothing, significant confusion, etc. etc. etc. Mom and the nurses (and the good nuns who run the NH) all met, and decided that they were going to discontinue the Zyprexa. They'd deal with the "normal" level confusion, rather than fight with all of those other symptoms. Oh well, things seem back to what has become our normal at this point. I'll keep you all posted as things evolve. I guess the moral of this story is "one pill can be enough"! Diane McHutchison [log in to unmask] LD Caregiver for Dad (69/7+)