Dear Emma,
Welcome to the list. Your efforts to help your mother's friend are
magnificent. This IS the place to learn!
I am a caregiver for my father, who actually has a Parkinson's Plus
disease. I don't claim to know a lot about all the various drugs--others
on the list will be more knowledgeable. However, I can share something I
recently learned from one of my father's neurologists.
There are four substances in the brain (enzymes???) that direct and
affect movement and moods. They are: dopamine, serotonin,
neurepinefrin, and acetocholine. Parkinson's is the result of dopamine
deficiency and levadopa, along with the variety of dopamine agonists,
works on this.
Effexor works on neurepinefrin. It has traditionally been used as an
anti-depressant. In fact, my nephew, who is bi-polar, takes it.
However, since my father's condition does not seem to respond to the
drugs that work on dopamine, and his experience with drugs that work on
seratonin resulted in hallucinations, the doctor is now trying
(alternately) two drugs that work on neurepinefrin. He is currently
taking Wellburtin and has not yet tried the Effexor. We haven't seen any
effect yet. He is on an extremely low dosage, and he refuses to let me
increase it. Plus, I'm told that it can take as long as 6 weeks until
any effect is noticed.
That's about all I know on these drugs. I'm sure others on the list can
add more.
Jane Koenig
Marietta, GA
(daughter of Fred, 80/MSA/2)
At 05:57 PM 8/9/99 +0930, you wrote:
>>>>
i was wondering if anyone could tell me which drug is
most comonly taken in the early stages of PD. My mothers friend takes
'EFEXOR - XR' (VENLAFAXIN). However, I have been reading that 'LEVODOPA'
is common. Can anyone tell me the difference betweeen these two? Maybe
a little about LEVODOPA? is the drug she is taking an anticholinergic
drug? Help me please????? Thankyou
Kind Regards
Emma
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