No Sinemet Day 70, Sunday, July, 29, 2013

Good Morning,

I have now completed 70 days with no Sinemet or Carb-Lev. My meds, all taken at 8 am and 8 pm.(+/- 2 hours, it doesn’t seem to matter) normally are:

1) Motrin 800mg 2 times daily
2) Flexeril 10mg 1/2 in am, 1/2 at night (this was a recent reduction)
3) Cogentin 1mg 2 times daily

I continue to experience no “on and off” times, taking my meds only twice a day. But things are definitely happening.

Twice in the last week I have forgotten to take my medication and was approximately 4 hours late each time. Although I didn’t know the effect at the time I believe it did have some effect on my stability and therefore will not be decreasing any more pills for at least a week, maybe more.

I will also note that on Friday morning of day 68 I was up after only four hours sleep to catch a flight to Los Angeles. I definitely noticed a change in my coordination walking and talking and sweating. I fell out of bed Friday night (never done that before), have had some difficulty walking and my general state of being with the Sinemet has somewhat returned, although without the Sinemet. I still continue to find little things I couldn’t do two months ago like use my right hand for the mouse which I can do now. Definitely some changes going on.

This evening I got out of the Jacuzzi and felt an inner being sickness and slight headache. It came and went for about an hour. I am a little paranoid about stroke having read that is one of the side effects of sudden withdrawal from the Sinemet. Overall I am still 100% happier with my current situation that I was three months ago.

Here are the positives:

Absolutely no tight muscles
No problem driving
Meds taken at 8 am and 8 pm
No ON/OFF time
No problem eating
No problem sleeping
90% of the time I walk normal and type normal
70% of the time no shaking of the hand/foot

I seem to be in a physical condition better than I was 6 or 7 years ago. That is not to say I am stronger, but that all my muscles are working in cooperation with each other and one side has no better advantage than the other. This however, is a call to exercise and it starts tomorrow.

Here are the negatives:

Drowsiness
Moderate memory loss (becoming more of a concern)
Possibly minor vision issues
Increased slowing down of movements
Still have difficulty accomplishing minor tasks-Apathy
Dry mouth
Soft voice
Slight difficulty swallowing
Slight shortness of breath and awareness of heartbeat
Moderate deficiency in fine motor skills on both sides
Dry mouth mostly gone but sweating has increased


That’s it for now. Thanks for your interest.

Jim