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Jackie,

I agree that your husbands Dr. leaves much to be desired.  Any physician who would give a serious diagnosis to a patient regardless of how busy he is without allowing a significant amount of time for reaction and questions should be IMHO dumped.  He should of made another appointment if he was too busy at the time

I don't see the reason for either the high dose of sinemet early in the disease but he could have a valid reason.  Baclofen is an antispasmotic that is not to my knowledge generally used for dyskinesia . Also dyskinesia is not usually present until about  2 years following start of Sinemet.

I think that your idea about getting a new physician is an excellent one.

Charlie


"Jacqueline D. Richardson" wrote:

> In the two months since my husband was diagnosed he has gone from 2 Sinemet (25/100) to 6 per day. He developed dyskinesia and his doctor prescribed Backofen 10mg three times per day to counteract the dyskinesia. I questioned him about the 6 being too much and was that causing the dyskinesia and he said No, the dyskinesia just means that the drug (Sinemet) is working.
>
> I know you folks aren't doctors, but what are your thoughts on this. Many of you have already expressed concern about going from 2-6 per day in so short a time considering he has just been diagnosed and since I've been reading this list I don't recall seeing Baclofen mentioned, but I may have missed it since this is all new to me. Is this commonly given to alleviate the dyskinesia?
>
> This doctor is really totally unacceptable. The day he told my husband he had PD he allowed him all of a 5 minute appointmet. Told him he had PD, take this medication it will take care of things and ushered him out the door. Never allowed my husband to ask questions about PD or the meds or told him what to expect. At first I sort of thought it may have been my husband's fault because he isn't really one to ask a lot of questions. But, the other day when I talked to the doc (I work at the same medical center) I had a small list of questions/concerns I wanted clarified and he totally brushed me off and wouldn't give me the time of day. He was actually downright rude and totally insensitive. Here he was prescribing a new medication and he wouldn't even tell me how often to take it or what we could expect it to do. He kept trying to hang up and I finally said, well will I find the instructions on how much to take on the bottle when I pick it up at the pharmacy??? At that point he broke
> down and told me to have him take 3 a day. I couldn't believe it. If this was a broken arm that would be one thing - it would heal, but this is life altering. I just can't believe a doctor is this unprofessional. There is another neuro here that has Parkinson's listed as his clinical interest so I tried to get an apointment with him and I couldn't get my husband in until DECEMBER. Even though I work at a fairly prestigious medical center (Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center) it has become quite clear that I can't get quality care here and we are going to Boston (130 miles away). I managed to get an appointment there in October so we will muddle along with these meds and hope this new doc is better. He comes highly recommended and if his secretary is any indication (she was an absolute sweetheart on the phone) it should go well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
>
> Thanks again for letting me vent. I'm trying to be very chipper around my husband and I don't want to complain to him about these things, but I just have to get it off my chest.
>
> Have a nice weekend!!
> Jackie in VT
> [log in to unmask]

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Charles T. Meyer,  M.D.
Middleton (Madison), Wisconsin
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