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At my last visit to my regular neuro, he said I had one of the "plus" varieties of PD but didn't know which one. We finally have a motion disorder clinic established at Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and I saw the neuro there last month. He did the same sort of quick tests--tap, tap, follow my finger, squeeze, resist, walk down the hall--and said it was one of the forms of MSA. I didn't know there were more than one. Seems there are three and possibly four (he didn't say which I had, if they even have names to differentiate). Does anyone know more about them? Archives has nothing but the description of MSA taken from Jankovic's book, which doesn't tell me much. I don't have dementia or orthostatic hypotension. Main problems are gait irregularity, balance (propulsion and foot drop cause falls) , slurred speech and incontinence. Sinemet , from what I can tell, helps only the propulsion, allowing me to walk upright longer, but side effects are hoarseness (sometimes no sound at all), distonia (foot pulled inward and mouth twists), and increased gag reflex. I can put up with these if there's no other way to avoid running into walls, but am asking if anyone has found something that works better. The specialist suggested amantadine; I said I'd think about it, but wanted to try pramipexole first (not out then). Permax and parlodel were disasters last year. When I first signed on and described my symptoms, some kind soul, an astute nurse at a MSA clinic, suggested I might have MSA. My neuro ruled it out because of the absence of dementia. Now I've lost her name in my files (I didn't say the mind was as sharp or memory as quick) but would like to tell her, "You told me so." Anyone else? Thanks, and apologies for length of this. Kathy Kunz, 61/3