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I think it's about time that we got a clear picture of the various dopamine agonists, since they feature in most people's drug diet these days. For instance; I take Permax (Pergolide) in addition to levadopa. Over the last 6 years I have worked myself up from zero to 5 mg of Permax in order to combat the steady deterioration which is the hallmark of PD. Now this simple fact is of very little use if I want to see into the future, unless I can relate my current intake of Permax to some absolute standard. Not only that, how do I relate my situation to that of someone taking say Ropinirole (Requip)? With your help, I think we can answer these questions. What we need is for as many members of this list as possible to complete the response form at the end of this e-mail. I have not seen this attempted before (maybe it can't be done) but let's make the attempt. Problem areas: A key question is 'What is the maximum safe dosage of whatever drug you are using?' This is bound to be a moving feast in practice: for instance; when I was taking 2 mg of Permax, my neurologist told me that about 4 mg would be the maximum safe level. When I reached 4mg , he told me that people were taking up to 12 mg. I am very grateful to these pioneers for effectively opening-up my future by several years. If we get enough of a response to make a useful analysis I will attempt to do so, and will make the data available to anyone who asks for it. Of course any results will be published in the list. Questions: 1/ Which Dopamine Agonist are you taking? 2/ When did you start taking it? 3/ When were you diagnosed as having PD? 4/ What was your age when diagnosed? 5/ When do you believe (with hindsight) that you experienced first symptoms? 6/ What is your present daily intake of levodopa? (Sinemet, Madopar) 7/ What is your present daily intake of Dopamine Agonist? 8/ Has your neurologist advised you of the max. safe dose for your agonist? -- Brian Collins <[log in to unmask]>