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^^^^^^ WARM GREETINGS FROM ^^^^^^^^^^^^ :-) Ivan Suzman 49/39/36 [log in to unmask] :-) Portland, Maine land of lighthouses 3 3 deg. F :-) snow or rain on the way ******************************************************************** On Tue, 29 Dec 1998 10:52:54 -0500 judith richards <[log in to unmask]> writes, in part: >"....The neuro who saw my friend in the hospital yesterday morning said >they are having all kinds of problems with patients who had to come off >Tasmar, but he didn't elaborate....." Judith, J.R., Brian and Janet, and friends, I am following the story of Judith's friend closely. I tend to agree with Janet about the over-medication problem, as well as about the too-frequent switching from one medication to another. I feel like he should be taken off of virtually all of the drugs except carbidopa/levodopa. If a baseline could be established for how much L-dopa he seems to use per hour, then a good starting point for the re-introduction of an agonist and/or an MAO-B inhibiitor and/or a COMT inhibitor should be possible. Morphine by nose in a tube seems drastic, doesn't it? Thank you Judith for sharing this crisis with all of us. My only comment about my great success with Tasmar is that my neuro and I are taking it so gently, using only a half-dose of 50 mg at any point, that I am succeeding very well with it. I wonder, in respect to your comment above, what thoughts the Canadian physicians who read this and the Canadian PWP's recently stopped from using Tasmar might have, about continuing PWP's on Tasmar on a half-dose at a time basis, when possible, and with a lowered maximum daily total-perhaps 300 mg? I have even suggested to the local Roche representatives, that they manufacture a 50 mg tablet. The response I got, that it would take years of testing, and cost 6 to 12 million dollars, was very disappointing. I could be way off base about Tasmar, but at least in my own personal experience, it has been a real miracle. In fact, the last two days, my SInemet was down from 900 to 750, as opposed to the original 1600mg. On a real good day, I can now last almost all day with three short off-periods of 1/2 hour or less. Today is one of those days-complete with some driving, and a 45-minute interview of a prospective Personal Care Attendant. Ivan