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Brian, thank you again for your words of wisdom. I know there are countless others here in US struggling with the same questions, as the whole PD community was anxiously waiting for Mirapex (first "flavor of the month" that was released). I was diagnosed 10+ years ago, and you are correct, I can gratefully say that symptoms are still fairly mild (stage 2-2 1/2). I too am a sceptic, and take an active role in my treatment. (As you know, there is huge money in new drugs for the drug companies, and they are not always ethical in publishing all the research). I was on Permax for 3 years, started when I had a spell of worsening symptoms, and suffered some side effects to function better. Last summer I stopped it and to my surprise, didn't notice any difference. I guess there is a lesson there. As I said, I started on Mirapex to reduce Sinemet. My neurologist was involved in the studies for 4 years, and had good results from it. She is a smart doctor, and a nice person. Unrealistic or not, I just want to stay where I am as long as possible and keep up with research - if they can clone a sheep... Your success in managing PD that long is remarkable, I kind of knew it didn't happen by just "following the dr's orders". Stay well, Lisa