On Sun 05 Oct, Liisa Millen wrote:
> Brian Collins mentioned something about Madopar not being as toxic as
> Sinemet - unfortunately I deleted the post- I would really appreciate
> learning more about it. I am very concerned with toxic effects of all PD
> drugs, having taken Sinemet and Sinemet CR for over 10 years, also have
> long relationship with Eldepryl. I now have a change to reduce Sinemet,
> Mirapex is working very well for me. But just how toxic is Mirapex? Any of
> the new dopamine agonist better than the other?
>
> Lisa
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
Hello Lisa, I think the post that you were referring to is the paragraph
below. I forgot to mention it at the time, but if you only have access to
Sinemet, there is one more thing that you can do: switch from Sinemet
25/100 to Sinemet 10/100. Both tablets contain 100mg of levodopa and,
provided you take at least 100 mg of Carbidopa per day, both tablets will
deliver the same quantity of levodopa to the brain.
So: the message is - juggle your Carbidopa intake to be as near to 100 mg
per day as possible, while keeping your levodopa unchanged at the prescribed
level.
*******
Another source of concern is the Carbidopa which is a part of every
Sinemet tablet. Your body really only needs about 100 to 150 mg per day
to do its job of protecting the levodopa as it travels through the
bloodstream to the brain. Your intake comes to 450 mg /day. The excess
Carbidopa can cause produce symptoms of lethargy, listlessness, and just
feeling low. On the other hand, if the Levodopa is not getting through
then maybe the Carbidopa is not getting through either! My 3000mg/day
friend did suffer from the excess Carbidopa. but was able to cure that
symptom by changing to Madopar equivalents. (Madopar uses a chemical
called Benserazide to do the same job as Carbodopa) and the compound
(Madopar) is literally interchangeable with Sinemet, except that it does
not seem to produce the toxic effect in the blood stream. The bad news
is that if you live in the USA, Madopar is not available to you. In
most other parts of the world, both Sinemet and Madopar are available.
********
Regards,
--
Brian Collins <[log in to unmask]>
