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Re: Hallucination

For Ray Lakin.

Hello Ray,  nice to hear from you again. One point that struck me as I read
your thoughtful post concerns the difficulty in finding the optimum dose for
a particular drug. Taking the dopamine Agonists as a group, for instance,
they are not capable of doing the job single-handed, but they can make a
useful contribution. The strategy therefor would be to take a quantity of
the Agonist well within the maximum recommended amount, and watch carefully
for side effects. If side effects do  appear, try another agonist. (I think
that until proven otherwise, it is wisest to assume that all the Dopamine
agonists have similar effects as far as their primary function is concerned,
and the main differences to be found are the varying side-effects.)

In the case of levodopa, the job of finding a beneficial effect is
complicated by the phenomenon known as the on/off effect. You may for
instance be prescribed 1 Sinemet25/100 to be taken every 4 hours. You take
it and try it for a few days: Result - nothing.  You report back, and are
told to try one every 2 hours, thus doubling the amount of medication. That
will surely work, you think; result - No improvement.
   At this stage, most people would probably give up, thinking that they
have given it a fair chance. Alternatively, they may try one more
time, doubling up again, or say adding half a tablet to the existing one.
This time, the subject may develop wild Overdose symptoms, and another batch
of people fall out, thinking that those tablets are not for them.
  All of the above events can and do occur, and they are all explained by
reference to my notorious Charts A & B  The point is that there CAN BE an
answer in the results, otherwise I for one would not be here now. The
difficulty is in finding that level and holding on to it.
--
Brian Collins  <[log in to unmask]>