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On Thu 03 Jun, Dennis Greene wrote: > I must say I'm intrigued by your contention that an excess of levodopa > actually serves to shut down the natural dopamine system. If this is the > case I would think that a direct correlation could be drawn between size of > dose first prescribed and speed of progression of the disease. I would > imagine that there is a vast amount of uncollected evidence relating to > this, just waiting for some candidate for a masters degree to collect and > collate it. > > Dennis Hello Dennis; You are right - up to a point, and there may be a correlation between size of dose and rate of degenertion of the brain. However, don't forget that the brain has made its way down to 30% of cells remaining with -out any help from levodopa tablets, so this effect of mine will be yet another small contributor. Did you notice the use of 30% remaining ? that is the currently-fashionable number to use. it was 10%, then crept ub to 20%, , and now 30% !! I am becoming more and more convinced that the theory that PD is cell death (Apoptosisis) caused by a considerable number of stress-raising factors, which eventually result in the cell shutting down. This has been mentioned by my friendly local neurologists, and the speculation is that there may be 20 plus of these little rascals. The thing that convinces me is that IF there was a big swinger, then the epidemia would by now, and we would all be cured - but we are not! -- Brian Collins <[log in to unmask]>