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Carol:

Welcome to the club.

You didn't indicate when you were diagnosed. I'm about to hit my seven-year
anniversary and I'm almost ready to chop my left leg off.

You describe a symptom that's fairly common among more advanced Parkinsonians,
I believe. Muscles in your hips, legs and feet start contracting and releasing
without your help!  As I mentioned, my left leg is the villian. Its rhythmic
dance hits body parts in sequence: hip, thigh, calf, foot, toes. It can drive
you crazy, I know,

This dystonia most commonly is a symptom of  the disease. It only happens to
me in the "OFF" state, very soon after my previous dose of Sinemet goes south.
If it wakes my in the middle of the night, I take an extra Sinemet 25/100 roll
back over on  my right side (lying on my left side intensifies the action) and
wait about twenty minute until the pill kicks in. During a daytime outage, I
stretch out on the sofa and watch TV until my next pill kicks in. Being on my
back seems to put less stress on  the hip, which usually has the strongest
contractions.

How am I going to correct this torture? In three weeks, I'm scheduled to have
a Pallidotomy.

Hope this has been helpful.

Stan Houston
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