Thanks, Brian! I've never know what made the PD agonists different from each
other before (apparently the BODY each goes into makes the difference more
than the content of each drug!) <simplistic view>
Other than taking Eldepryl along with the PD mainstay, Sinemet, beginning in
1990 (Yech! Nausea daily for 3 years! And I recognize that drug's not an
agonist), Mirapex was my first venture into taking something else to enhance
the action of the Sinemet (and in some cases, I understand it worked so well,
Sinemet was actually omitted - but THAT sure didn't happen with ME! PHOOEY!)
Thanks again, Brian...
Barb Mallut
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----------
From: Parkinson's Information Exchange on behalf of Brian Collins
Sent: Saturday, December 13, 1997 4:59 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list PARKINSN
Subject: Dopamine Agonists
Hello folks, I would be interested if anyone has additional material or
experience relevant to this post.
I recently had the opportunity of a long chat with my neurologist, who is
a specialist in Parkinson's Disease, and is certainly the most informed of the
many specialists who I have dealt with over the course of 19 years with PD.
We were discussing the relative merits of the various Dopamine Agonists. I
commented that I did not see any difference in the performance of these drugs
as far as performing their basic function of providing a Dopamine substitute
without provoking dyskinesias. I was somewhat surprised to find that he fully
agreed with me! It appears that there is virtually no research being done
or previously done comparing the performance of the various agonists, and it
appears that the drug manufacturers show no enthusiasm for doing such tests.
(There's a challenge for our researchers)
What it boils down to is this:
1) All the Dopamine agonists perform their basic function, and there is no
difference in the performance of one versus the other. If you are trying to
increase your On/Off margins, or reduce your Sinemet/Madopar dosage by
increasing the agonist dosage, ALL the agonists will do the job, and one is=20
as good as another.
2) Where the dopamine agonists DO differ is in the tendency to produce=20
unwanted side effects. Generalisation is impossible here: it is definitely
a=20
case of 'One man's meat is=A0another man's poison'. All that can be done is,
if=20
your particular Agonist is giving you trouble, try one of the others. This
is the ONLY valid reason for changing agonists. With the number of options=20
now available, there are good grounds for expecting that one or more of
them=20
will prove to be satisfactory for you. I have listed below the currently
available agonists; let me know if I missed any. (Not all of these will be=20
available in a specific country)
Apomorphine
Bromocriptine (Parlodel)
Lisuride (Revanil)
Pergolide (Permax, Celanse)
Cabergoline (Cabaser)
Ropinirole (Requip)
Tolcapone (Tasmar)
Pramipexole (Mirapex)
--=20
Brian Collins <[log in to unmask]>
