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Bill, Some of the PD medications describe urticaria, or rash, as a possible side effect. Best, Kathrynne Bill Harrington wrote: > > Hi: I just had a smalll mole-like thing taken off m neck, > it was basal cell carcinoma. Now, suddenly I find dozens of small > itchy red patches across my shoulders and middle back. I havw > had two previous bumps taken off that were also cancerous. > Should I be worried, my doctor doesn't seem to be.I'm also > getting severe back pain. Comments invited. > > William M. (Bill) Harrington > > On Fri, 15 Jan 1999, J. R. Bruman wrote: > > > Levodopa/Melanoma (Closure) > > Today at the library I dug up 3 more of the references cited in > > Kathrynne Holden's PubMed search (10 Jan 99): > > > > Lieberman A, Shupack J; Neur 1974: > > Combining 3 of their own cases with 2 reported by others, they > > summarize recurrence of melanoma in 4 of them, within a few weeks > > or months after beginning levodopa treatment for PD. The quickest > > onset (3 weeks) was in a patient getting only 1000mg/day of > > levodopa. The other 3 patients were getting 2000, 3600, or 4500 > > mg/day of levodopa. Authors' diffident suggestion that it might > > be wise to monitor such patients evidently prompted inclusion of > > the notice in the PDR (My post 12 Jan 99). > > > > Fermaglich J, Delaney P, and reply; Sober A; JAMA 1979: > > They agree that no firm causal link between levodopa and melanoma > > is known, but for the sake of caution anyway, maybe substitution > > in patients with melanoma and PD of an agonist, such as > > bromocriptine, rather than levodopa, might be wise. Neither side > > sounds especially confident of their position. > > > > Rampen F and reply: Pfutzner W, Przybilla B; J Am Acad Derm 1998: > > Rampen pulls no punches: Studying the moles of PD patients on > > levodopa is a waste of time and money. The rather weak reply is > > that not all melanomas are related to sun exposure, and a > > relation to levodopa cannot be ruled out, since no carefully > > conducted and analyzed epidemiological study has been done. > > > > CONCLUSION: It certainly doesn't hurt to watch your melanoma for > > signs of change, whether you're a PD patient getting levodopa or > > not. But if you never had a melanoma, you probably needn't worry > > about getting one from levodopa alone. Of course, future research > > may show otherwise, but for now... > > Cheers, > > Joe > > -- > > J. R. Bruman (818) 789-3694 > > 3527 Cody Road > > Sherman Oaks, CA 91403-5013 > > -- Kathrynne Holden, MS, RD "Nutrition you can live with!" Medical nutrition therapy http://www.nutritionucanlivewith.com/ Tel: 970-493-6532 // Fax: 970-493-6538 "If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?" -Albert Einstein