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Marty Polonsky wrote: > > Hey List, > Please hear me out: > For the last few years, I have had tendencies to lean significantly to the > right--with my whole body--and to experience an overpowering gravitational > pull, also to the right. The pull sometimes literally pulls me to the ground, > and has caused me to fall out of chairs, and the pull and the leaning have > both led to a generalized loss of balance which, in turn, has resulted in > many falls, some of them quite nasty--eg the one that opened up a gash on my > forehead that required multiple stitches by a plastic surgeon to close, or > the recent one which broke six ribs--most painful! Anyway, two neuros whom > I respect have now suggested to me that my leaning and sense of being pulled > are instances of "trunkeal dystonia" which cam be caused by sinemet, just > like dyskinesia. The proposed remedy for this. Is to wean me off--or down to > a minimal level of-sinimet, and to replace it with klonapin. Marty, PD is not the only cause of dystonia. The somewhat murky discussion in Merck mentions heredity, various dopamine-blocking drugs, repetitive physical stress (e.g., carpal tunnel syndrome, writer's cramp). But there is no hint that dystonia is caused by Sinemet (levodopa) and of course virtually everyone on this list knows that, at least in PD patients, the truth is just opposite. Before taking the advice of your neuros to quit Sinemet, perhaps you should consult some others. Cheers, Joe -- J. R. Bruman (818) 789-3694 3527 Cody Road Sherman Oaks, CA 91403-5013