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Ernie Peters wrote in part: <<In the 27 days since reaching 2mg x3 I have: 1. Managed on several occasions to delay the midday CR tablet by half an hour, so that I was leaving 4 and a half hours between morning and midday tablet - and still getting no "off" gap. 2. Left a gap of 4 and a half to 5 hours between midday and evening CR without an off. 3. I have also halved the evening Sinemet dose from a Sinemet CR 200/50 to a 100/25 CR, and have still had my evening "on" last up to 7 hours. (average 6 hours) I used to only get 4-5, (occasionally 6 hours) on a FULL CR! Once, I tried halving the midday dose of CR - No problems, still no gap. I am thinking to try this again, but have been reluctant to mess about too much as we have been a bit busy lately. Also, the mild end of dose dyskinesia I used to get at the end of the evening (right foot wanting to wriggle around) seems to have disappeared. I have been taking the Sinemet 40 mins pre meals as usual, but the Requip AFTER meals. This means the REQUIP follows the Sinemet by 1-2 hours. My reasoning is that by staggering the Sinemet and REQUIP like this, it fills the gap. It certainly works.>> the pharmacokinetics of Sinemet CR are consistent with the extension of the useful/efficacious period of time that results are good longer with the use of the added agonist: 1. the lower portion of the 'window' is less levodopa concentration - there is a short added time as the blood level concentration is going up - and a longer extension when it is going down (because the rise is steeper than the decay 2. there is very little reduction in duration if the 50/200 is broken in half - or if the 25/100 is broken in half (this info from the published original pharmacokinetics measurements). this is because the binder matrix is the delaying mechanism; the dissolve-time will be dependent upon the minimum dimension of the medication swallowed. this will be the thickness of the tablet which is the same whether halved or not. this means that it is foolish to take a larger amount of levodopa than slightly above your lower 'window' concentration needed. it certainly does not increase the efficacious time period significantly to take more than needed. for most, the entire CR pill is seldom completely dissolved in the intestine. If the half of a 50/200 is always plenty, try half of a half = 12.5/50 and you may find that sufficient also. (could save some money and be not overdosing yourself.) hope this helps. -- ron 1936, dz PD 1984 Ridgecrest, California Ronald F. Vetter <[log in to unmask]> http://www.ridgecrest.ca.us/~rfvetter