I'm not wishing to dispute with others the pros and cons of ropinirole; their experiences are valid for them.

My experiences over the last 5 years with ropinirole (the slow release version Requip XL to be precise) have been positive. I titrated up to 16mg per day over the course of 8 months. I have stayed there ever since, but with other drugs being added.

The thing it does best for me is to keep my "offs" relatively shallow. For instance, I can always walk home without a problem. Also, according to the nurse specialist who treats me, she would have expected to have seen some dyskenesia by now if I'd been totally treated with levodopa based drugs. As it is, I have none.

However, the downside of it for me was that it doesn't do the job as effectively as levodopa. So, when 16mg of Requip XL failed to give a reasonable quality of life, I added Stalevo, which has proved more effective.

I suspect that there's a number of different types of PD and within each type people respond differently to any given drug. In this matrix structure I suspect there are areas where ropinirole works and areas where it doesn't.

Has anyone seen any research into who is best on ropinirole?

John