On Thu 10 Sep, (Laura Liggett) wrote:
> Dear Hilary,
>
> I have experienced a similar state--from taking a large Sinemet instead of a
> small one, and being overmedicated. I felt really "loopy", almost drunk. The
> dyskinesia made me kind of "reel" around, and feel really loose-joionted. My
> breathing was rapid & shallow, almost like an anxiety attack. It was bizarre
> the first time it happened (about a year ago). Now I'm that way 50% of the
> time. The other 50% I'm off and can't move at all. Best of luck to you.
>
> Laura 44/10
>
> In a message dated 98-09-06 12:51:28 EDT, [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> << Has anyone ever accidentally taken a double dose of medication? I think
> I did this morning. I have no recollection of doing so, but I was one
> dose short for the day. I had the worst dyskenesia ever, lots and lots
> of energy, and was totally off-balance. Any comments? >>
>
>
>
To deal with the observation by [log in to unmask] first; your reaction was
a classic case of overdosing on Sinemet. You describe the overdose symptoms
quite effectively, and there is not a lot more I can say except to advise
you not to do it again!
>Laura - I note from your stats (44/10) that you are a relatively young onset
PWP with 10 years since diagnosis. In my case, (58/19) I was a little older
than when I encountered the first symptoms, but I have a considerable lead
on time since diagnosis (19 yrs). I am making the situation clear because,
based on my experience, and other observations, I believe that you can do much
better with your meds than swinging wildly from OFF to Overdosed to OFF again
and so on. Don't you feel that somewhere between the Off and the Overdose condition there lies a
drug rate of input which would give you fully stable operation? I believe
there is , and your present problems are caused by the simple fact that this
drug rate of input does not co-incide with the size of the available tablets.
Why on earth should PWPs all be shoe-horned into boxes labelled 100mg, or
200mg? Why not 74.9 mg ?
I have built-up a complete model of the Levodopa drug input system (based
partly on computer analysis of my own reactions to levodopa, and using this
model I was able to formulate my personal optimim requirements, which happens
to be : 37.5 mg/hour of levodopa, coupled with 4mg of Permax per day. I
achieve this by taking one and a half 50 mg levodopa tablets every 2 hours.
If you would like to optimise your intake, I would be happy to help.
Regards,
--
Brian Collins <[log in to unmask]>
