 |
 |
At 17:46 4-9-98 EDT, Mary Legan wrote: >I've had an experience which I need your help to explain. I was diagnosed >with PD (the rigidity type) ~ 6 yrs ago, and now take 6 Sinemet 10/100 tablets >& 4 Sinemet 25/100 CR throughout the day, plus one or both early am if >necessary. I do have rather severe end-dose "offs", no dyskenesias; mornings >are my best time. Mary, The fact that you are now feeling relatively well, after some sinemetless days does not prove that you don't have PD or that your PD improved, but is an indication that the symptoms of your severe "end of dose offs" are not merely symptoms of PD but are leva-dopa induced, "withdrawal" symptoms. Like you have experienced, I also have unexpected reactions, when I temporarely stop using sinemet. I have like you also the benefit of sleep, so I am not that bad in the morning before I take any meds. When I don't do anything, just sit and read or listen to music this feeling relatively well may last the whole day. I even feel better under this circumstances than I feel with sinemet. I feel much more quietness. Under influence of sinemet I always feel a kind of pushed around, an inner tension, when "on" and dystonia and dyskinesia when wearing off or as interdose response To be able to do something like typing or walking, I do need sinemet. With the help of Tasmar I have now reduced my sinemet intake to only 200 mg. each day. But that has only decreased and not stopped my wearing off dysinesia. These "wearing off" symptoms did arouse in the past much discussion on the list, because not everyone believed they even existed at all. Now it is much mentioned in the research literature and a research project of Cotzias has started to find the molecular basis. It has been for years my impression that "wearing off" dystonia and dyskinesia are quite different from top of meds symptoms and that the first had some familiarity with "wearing off" symptoms of heroin or other addictive drugs, abstinence symptoms or "cold Turkey". Reading about addiction I found that all addicting stuffs cause a heightening of the levo-dopa level in the brain and the abstinence symptoms arive as soon as this level is decreasing again. So I searched in the litterature on treatment of addicts for meds who are used to fight the "cold Turkey". With some help I now did find a drug that is expected to be able to do this and is also expected to fight "wearing off" levo-dopa induced dyskinesia. It is a glutamate antagonist and the name is dextrometorphan. It is used as an ingredient in an over the counter anti-cough med., but can not be used in combination with a MAO inhibitor (selegeline).( Before using it one has to stop selegeline a few weeks at least). I myself will not use it before having consulted my neuro. -------------------------------------------------------------- Vriendelijke Groeten / Kind regards, Ida Kamphuis mailto: [log in to unmask]