[lindylanka]

I have just had a change of medication after 3.5 years on same dosage of 3 x Sinemet Plus (25/100) and 3 x Sinemet Half CR (25/100) per day, pretty much at about 5 hours apart.

I have had dreadful foot dystonia since feb this year and following seeing my neuro who suggested more CR in the night (didn't work, and gave me trippy dreams) I contacted my PD nurse specialist who reckoned that I was rather undermedicated and so I have been started on entacapone 200, this week I am taking 2 a day, next week it will be 3.

All this would have been fairly straightforward except that just prior to this I ran out of CR's and so while I was waiting for my new prescription to arrive (5 days) I took 1.5 Sinemet plus four times a day. This was a bit of a revelation because the apathy that has plagued me for a while simply lifted, and my thinking became much more focused. SO...I liked it and decided to stick with it, but was still undermedicated, walking was poor and dystonia still bad.

Well, I then started on entacapone which has also been a revelation, I am now walking better than I have done in 7 YEARS. Smooth movement, normal pace, for about 4 hours at a time. So I should be pleased....well yes, over the moon about feeling better both mentally and physically. And I suppose it will all go to help remove that 'possible' from my somewhat hazy PD dx.

EXCEPT that I now have really swollen ankles and feel a bit woozy and my balance is all over the place. I haven't been wildly over active, and my GP checked me out and my BP is really high (always been low before). It's not mentioned in side-effects and I am anxious as GP doesn't really have a handle on PD.

I would be grateful for any insights on med changes and entacapone in particular, especially if anyone has had blood pressure changes, slight breathlessness etc as above. I have also been experiencing the achy arms on wearing off that John mentioned in an earlier post, but that has been going on for a while. Just didn't expect this....

Lindy