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hi julian you wrote: >I hope this isn't a dumb question my philosophy is that the only dumb question is the one that doesn't get asked >terminology of being "on" or "off" as PD patient i remember wondering the same thing a few years ago when i was a newbie to this game i am intimately familiar with the conditions now but my terminology tends to be 'kicked in' or 'kicked out' irregardless, i am always 'kicking'! i believe that either [a] as the disease progresses or [b] as we become more sensitive to levodopa the levodopa tolerance 'window' of beneficeal effect gets narrower so at one side, we are more vulnerable to symptoms of levodopa overdose - dyskinesia or uncontrolled movement seems to be the 'cue' in my case i get 'twitchy' - e.g. if i happen to be in a restaurant i'm always losing my napkin or my shoes under the table and then at the other side, we are more likely to have symptoms of levodopa underdose - in my case, i 'stiffen up' and can't walk, run, or gallop so eventually we all face the challenge of 'fine tuning' in terms of dose level or timing to find out what works best the 'kick-in' time frame can be a matter of minutes or even seconds i'm afraid my kitty-kids have been traumatized by having a mother who is so stiff she can hardly shuffle ten feet per hour instantly convert to one who chases them around the house for the fun of it your syber-sys in syllynyss janet [log in to unmask]