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Hi Folks: November 22, 1997 I have just taken my first pill of requip. My physician participated in the clinical trials of this drug at the PDF in NY City and placed me on a different schedule than that which is recommended by the manuf. Prior to today I was taking sinemet 25/100 every three hours, elderpril 5mg morning and lunch and parlodel 5mg four times a day. I am experiencing increasing tremours in my left hand, foot curling in with toes curling under and end of doze movement. In the past I have had no difficulty getting started with new meds and I am fornunate that I am in my 11 year without experienceing any depression. Against that back ground we have decided to increase by .25mg the requip every 2 days instead of ever 7 days as recommended by the manuf. The doctors reasoning was that requip has some of the properties of parlodel which I have had no problem with in the past. I also discontinued parlodel immediately or cold turkey without and phaseing off period. I have a real good relationship with Dr. Efraim Perez a movement disorder specialist. Our conference yesterday lasted about 4 hours including lunch with the doctor and his staff in the hospital cafeteria.I do a lot of tangential work with the doctors patients in the hospital and in his private support group. I mention this as a background to our medical course of treatment. The doctor is experimenting a little and trusts me to stay with the medical protocal and to report accurately the results to him. He has given me the freedom to increase my sinemet intake during this period to every 2 1/2 hours if I go into off periods until the requip loads up into my system. The doctor advised me that it is a very tough transition period and that I need to stick it out for at least six weeks. Initially I can expect to stiffen up significantly and to have increased periods when I am off and the off periods will be signifiantly longer until the requip loads up in my system. In the evening I attended his support meeting and Dr. Perez overheard me making plans for breakfast next monday with one of the SG members and over my shoulder he said i wouldn't wait till monday to have that breakfast. I hope he was jokeing or oh my God what have I gotten my self into. Actually I do not dread the experience and I am anxious to get it on. I will report the results weekly if I am able to. Is there anyone else taking requip at this accelerated pace? I also have seen dramatic results in our support group from two people taking this drug. One rather young woman has been confined to a wheel chair for about two years. She has been taking requip for about six weeks and for the last four weeks has not had to use the wheel chair. She got a round of applause when she walked into a breakfast social gathering we have between our monthly support meeting. The other example was of an elderly lady who had been in a nursing home for two years and she is well enough to return to her daughters home. Good luck to all who are giving this drug a try. Dale Severance [log in to unmask]