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On Sat 20 Mar, Michel Margosis wrote: > > Like you, Lee, I would get along fine with my meds if I didn't have to (and > > like to)eat! I'm aware that even a small amount of protein can turn me off, > > but most of the time it seems that any food at all will find me immovable > > until another dose kicks in. When you take a 25/100 Sinemet every two > > hours,there is no good time to eat! I guess your method of fasting by one meal > > a day is probably the best way. > > > > Anyone else have a better one? > > > > Ruth Clark > > > > > Indeed, two hours is not enough time, but you should be able to eat > fairly well. > Michel Margosis, and Ruth Clark have made useful comments concerning meals and Sinemet. Here are one or two more: I have not seen Fat mentioned along with Protein. Fat is bad news because it tends to line the stomach wall and prevents access by the levodopa. Eventually it is cleared away, and the levodopa starts to be absorbed, but the increased residence time opens the way to more prolonged attack. Cheese is a classic example: I have had to give it up completely. Most cheeses are quite high in fat, and they seem to present an impenetrable barrier to the levadopa. Not only that, by the the the Fat does step aside, the Protein in the cheese has wiped out the remaining part of the levodopa. Some years ago, having got a fairly good computer model of myself with PD, I used the model to try to evaluate various kinds of food. This is stretching the limits of such a model, but it made an interesting study. The plan was: keep a record of my tablet intake during a day, also note how and when I took meals. Make my usual measurement of my 'condition', light the blue touch paper and retire. The model output produced a time history, as it was designed to do, but one appropriate to a no-meals day. So, any deviations between the predicted and the observed time history must be the effect of the meals. I then re-programmed the model, so that, given a crude description of the meal (small medium or large), the program could make appropriate adjustments. I found, for instance, that the usual large bowl of cereal and Bran could be counteracted by an extra 25 mg of levodopa (1/2 a Madopar dispersible) taken just before tne meal. (And it had to be skimmed ,milk, not full cream) If I had a full throttle, Company expected type of evening meal I found that I must ensure that I took my regular (every 2 hour) levodopa dose 5 minutes before starting the meal, but because of the time delay (no doubt the fat in the meal) I only make an adjustment in the next dose, 2 hours after the start of the meal. The adjustment is usually a dose of 150 mg levodopa instead of the normal (no-food) dose of 75mg. You will see that careful thought is needed: If the estimate is too high you run the risk of provoking Dyskinesias, but if you don't do something, you will probably end up spending the rest of the evening in a miserable Off condition. I hope this may give you some guidelines, Regards, -- Brian Collins <[log in to unmask]>