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Juelie, thank you for your detailed response. Glad you found a good Dr. If I could be sure the Mirapex helped your husband I may start on it being we were diagnosed about the same time. Stay in touch. best wishes to you and your husband. [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: McLean <[log in to unmask]> To: Multiple recipients of list PARKINSN <[log in to unmask]> Date: Wednesday, November 18, 1998 5:27 PM Subject: Mirapex >Hi again Ervin....you wrote: > >>>Julie, thank you for your response. I'm curious to know how long he's >>>been taking the two drugsand the >>reactions if any. Which one was first >>>taken and did the second drug help?how long had he been >>diagnosed.? >>>there has been so much controversy about Eldepyrl.As yet I have not start >>>any drugs even >>though I was prescribed Mirapex. I guess I'm still >>>waiting on reports. Best wishes ERVIN J >>MCCARTHY >>><[log in to unmask]> > >------- > >My husband had had a physical in Dec '97 (he didn't tell me, but it was >because he was worried about how he was feeling--thought he might have MS >or something). His physical came back with everything just great. I had >noticed over the past 5-6 years that his personality had changed, but >thought it was mid-life crisis. Then over the winter, I started noticing >that he was moving slower, started to hold one shoulder higher than the >other and gradually stopped swinging his arms when he walked and stooped. >A few times I saw a tremor in his hands, but he said it was probably just >because he had too much coffee. Finally I talked to our family physician >and asked him to see Dan again as Dan had not told him of his symptoms at >the time of his physical. We met with him in May when he diagnosed PD. We >went to Billings, Montana to a neurosurgon the first of June to confirm it. >He did. He started my husband with the handy little packet from Requip >(Ropinerole)....I am being a little sarcastic here, because the neuro >turned out to not have any experience with someone my husband's age (turned >50 in April). So he just gave us the packet of 3 week supply and told us >to come back in 3 weeks. He told us that Dan should feel symptomatic >relief in 3-5 days!! After my research in the internet about Requip, I >found that the packet is only to titrate a person to make sure they can >tolerate the medacine....it is NOT theropudic dosage (but our neuro didn't >know that). The packet starts out at .25mg 3xday for one week, .5mg 3xday >for the next week and .75mg 3xday the third week. We went back and he was >very concerned that Dan had not improved...was going to put him on >Sinnemet, but I balked at that. Then I confronted him with the fact that >on the studies, patients didn't feel symptomatic relief until about 7-9 >weeks into the medication and at an average doseage of 7-8mg a day. He was >not pleased with me. I asked him about Elepryl (since I had seen that this >was usually the first medication prescribed for early on-set PD by most of >the literature I read). He told us to wait a minute....then he disappeared >for 10-15 minutes. When he came back, he brought in a sample of Eldepryl >and said he had confered with is collegue and wanted him to start taking >5mg at breakfast and noon along with increasing his Requip. At this point, >we decided we needed to find a doctor that knew what he was doing...one who >had some experience. We continued on the medications and my husband had >settled at 9mg a day on the Requip. He was feeling much better and his >symptoms had been relieved to a great extent....but he was still very >anxious. We went to the Parkinson's Institue in Sunnyvale, CA in August >and saw Dr. Petzinger (movement disorder specialist). She told us that the >medacines Dan was taking were good ones, although she probably would have >put him on Mirapex had he come to her first. Her reasons were that you had >to take less of Mirapex (he is taking 1.5 3xday). She also said it has a >natural antidepressant feature to the medication. We decided to switch >because of the anxiety that Dan was still dealing with. She also told us >that at this stage of the disease that almost any medication will bring >symptomatic relief....it is just as the disease progresses, it get's harder >and harder to figure out the medications. Dan's anxiety has been helped >greatly!! He has more patience and is doing more in the last month or so >than he has done in the last 3-4 years. He can NOT miss a single dose, >tho, or he gets extremely shakey and feels terrible. When on his >medications (1.5mg Mirapex 3xday and 5mg Eldepryl 2xday--he also takes Vit >E, C, Co-enzymeQ-10 and meltonin when sleep is a problem) he feels very >normal without symptoms. His early symptoms are more on the rigidity side >than the tremor side at this point. He has not had ANY side effects with >Requip, Mirapex or Eldepryl. How long this will last, we don't know, but >we are going to make the best of it while we have it this good. There is >no way of knowing if the Eldepryl helped as we stared it 3 weeks after >starting the Requip, but since things are working, my husband does not want >to experiment by dropping one....he prefers to stay with both. > >I hope that this information is helpful to you. Each person reacts >differently, but for our part....Dan has only had positive benefits from >taking the dopamine agonist. > >With warmest regards, > >Juelie McLean CG/Dan 50 dx98