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First Brian wrote....... > > >Hello Dan, Camilla and Jennifer wrote about the effects of stress. To > > >give you some idea how to cope, it may be useful for you to know that > > >the Adrenalin released in response to the stress seems to have an > > >additive effect on top of the Sinemet. If you can see the stress coming > > >in time (and one hour warning would be ideal), then you should REDUCE > > >your intake of Sinemet to compensate. A reduction of up to 50% of > > >Sinemet may be necessary - its a powerful effect. > > >Regards, > > >Brian Collins <[log in to unmask]> and Janet responded in part...... > > holey moley, brian! > > > > your saying that adrenalin has an 'additive' effect on sinemet > > is completely [i.e. 180 degrees] opposite to my experience > > [and apparently dan's, as well!] > > and Brian's further reply (again in part........) > This I did - It was both exhilarating and terrifying, and I found that I > seemed to be ovwr-medicated virtually all the time. After the second AGM > the conclusiom was obvious: Since then. I have effectively to re-calibrate > myself for the AGM! Instead of my norma;l rigid every 2 hours medication > timing, I went onto an as-required system. (This was OK because I was not > getting the usual cliff-edge effect.) > > The result is that I am much more relaxed, can defend my ground against > all-comers, and after the 2 days are over, I find that my levodopa intake > over the entire weekend is down by 50%! > > One thing that we should get straight: the symptoms of PD + an Adrenalin > boost are not exactly the same as the effects of an overdose of levodopa > > My understanding is that in the total system which comprises the Substantia > Nigra, the signals to the muscles, the responses from the muscles (along > different pathways) back to the brain, all form part of the closed-loop > control system. When stimulated by Adrenalin (The 'fight or flight' > response as it is called, affects some of the elements in that closed loop > system- it becomes more hair-triggered, and that makes itself visible with > dyskinesia- like movements. > > I have gone to some lengths in the hope that you may notice something in > my descfiption. I would not expect Dan to show any effect, because with only > 1 year gone, you have to work quite hard to overcome the brains's defences. > > Advance warning of stress is not as silly as it sounds: when you have an > appointment for a potentially stressful meeting, it is easy to fine-tune > your system to avoid the un-wanted symptoms. When you look for them, you > can find quite a lot of situations where this trick is useful (To me, that > is, and a few of my friends, who have tried it out with similar results.) > > Would anyone else like to try an experiment, in a spirit of scientfic > research? > > Failing that, maybe another turn around the block is indicated ?? :-) > > -- > Brian Collins <[log in to unmask]> > 59 now /39 dx 33 onset Well Brian, I have to agree with you that most stress creates very obvious differences in our medicated state. However I am convinced that there are varying degrees of reaction depending on the "type" of stress. Stress at work in the form of a challenge to my skill and ability (such as passenger trapped in an elevator and I'm the mechanic on call) has almost a calming effect on me. Stress in the form of addressing a large group as a "speaker" or worse yet as "emcee" will definitely give me the dyskenesia in my right arm (an overdose indicator). Stress in the form of a death in the family left me undermedicated and requiring more sinemet. Now does anyone have similar experiences and what are your thoughts on that?? All the best ..........Murray [log in to unmask]