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John Noble SET PARKINSN DIGESTS wrote: > > Has anyone had experience with Ritilin as an energy booster for a PWP? After > a thorough exam, my internist found nothing to cause my almost continuous > exhaustion. My regular neurologist, in whom I have great confidence, said he > couldn't find a PD-related basis for it. From what I've seen here and my own experience, This "exhaustion" is a seriously overlooked feature of the PD syndrome. IMHO, it has something to do with the minumum level of available dopamine that occurs at the end of each periodic medication dose interval. That level changes slowly, declining if the PD is left untreated and rising under dopaminergic therapy, independent of fluctuation due to separate individual doses. As we all know, the dopamine that is provided by the various drug treatments seems to get "used up" somehow, and that is why we need frequent repeated medication. What I have noticed is that any kind of stress, either physical or mental, causes the effect of medication to decline faster. And a small extra dose (in my case, Sinemet) when the stress occurs seems to alleviate the tired feeling. If you are truly exhausted, say after running a marathon, medication won't help, only rest and nutrition will do. But the exhaustion that occurs so often in PD (complete with shortness of breath and pounding pulse) disappears so quickly after a little dopamine that I think it isn't the same thing. Cheers, Joe -- J. R. Bruman (818) 789-3694 3527 Cody Road Sherman Oaks, CA 91403-5013