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On Sat 12 Apr, Helen J. Coleman wrote: > Maybe you can enlighten me on why I have such a problem with my medications. > I've been on many of the old standby meds and seem to have trouble with > them all. I'm in an HMO, one of the best I'm told, but the Neuro I see is > close to impossible to workwith. Fortunatly he is soon to retire so I will > be assigned a new doctor but until then I've had very little help. My major > problem with all pd meds I've taken are the side effects which are worse > than the pd itself. After a few weeks of taking my pills, one Sinemet CR in > the AM and two or three 10/100' the rest of the day, one Eldepryl, Vit. E and > C and I can't stand the side effects anymore, I stop all and feel much better > for at least a few days. > Hello Helen, I suspect that, if you are taking your meds as whole tablets, whether they be Sinemet CR or Sinemet 10/100, you are jumping right over the quantity that you need to stabilise your symptoms. My experience may help to explain what I mean:- The objective which we are striving to achieve is to set up as near to a constant rate of flow of levodopa into our brain, to replace the Dopamine which is steadily being broken down and carried away by the brain's 'waste- disposal' system. As your PD symptoms progress, it becomes more important that your tablets supply the precise (Unique to you) flow rate. I have been taking Sinemet or equivalent tablets for 17 years, and am still managing to achieve a stable result. BUT - if I took a Sinemet 10/100 or a Sinemet CR, I would be in terrible distress, because there would be too much levodopa. I have discovered, by recording my condition and analysing it with a program which I developed, that my ideal schedule is achieved by taking 1 and a half Madopar dispersible(12.5/50), every 2 hours, I can achieve just what I need. 1 and 3/4 is too much, and 1 and 1/4 is too little, so you can see how delicate it is, but the end result makes it well worth the trouble. The program is available to anyone to try (with no guarantees of success), provided that you are prepared to dedicate 2 or 3 days to observing and recording your condition. Contact me for further details. Regards, -- Brian Collins <[log in to unmask]>