At 10:08 AM 2/11/98 -0500, Phil Tompkins wrote:
>Now I'm at a point where the difference between too little sinemet
>and too much is narrowing. There are not enough gradations in size
>of available doses. 25/100 can be too little and 50/200 too
>much.
>
Phil, I agree. For what we call a designer disease, we certainly don't
have designer drugs. Some months back we discussed the fact that the
timing of the release of the medication on a 50/200 Sinemet CR broken in
two was somewhat different from that of the same pill taken whole. But I
would still suspect (does anybody know for sure?) that the characteristics
of a half 50/200 would be somewhat similar to those of a 25/100 - and more
particularly to those of a 25/100 broken in half with both halves taken at
the same time. That would still leave a big gap between the time/release
characteristics of the 25/100 and the 50/200.
One might postulate that there is a continuum of sorts for doses. The
lowest dose might be half of a 25/100, taken at some appropriate interval.
Next lowest might be the whole 25/100, but taken at a greater interval.
Then perhaps a half of a 50/200 or two halves of a 25/100 taken at the
shorter interval. Then a 50/200 taken at the longer interval. And finally
a 50/200 broken in two and both halves taken together.
This would appear to offer five steps in dosage, and apparently not very
uniform steps, where more creatively assigned sizes might offer more steps
and possibly more uniform steps.
One also wonders why the carbidopa/levodopa ratio is the same in both pill
sizes: would we not expect the carbidopa requirement to remain constant as
the levodopa requirement rises?
Just a thought - wondering if there is anybody at a manufacturer of Sinemet
CR or Madopar (or a generic equivalent) monitoring the list.
Art 62/12
Arthur Hirsch [] [log in to unmask] [] Lewisville, TX
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