Quote:
Originally Posted by made it up
The muscle cramping is (I think) is dystonia which usually happens with an off.
It can be excruciatingly painful.
I don't think your fathers offs are worse when the Sinemet wears off but rather that his parkinsons has progressed over the period of time he's been taking it which by the way it would have whether he took Sinemet or not.
I'm guessing here by assuming he's elderly so perhaps upping his dose or giving even half a Sinemet at regular intervals before an off starts may help lessen the occurrances of the offs which subsequently would help the dystonia.
He's at an increased risk of falls too when he's off and sounds to me like he's under medicated for Parkinsons.
Hope this helps.
Boann, You often come across as promoting agonists and giving Sinemet the thumbs down.
Agonists have caused problems for me. Plus they did bugger all to help my symptoms. Sinemet helps those of us with akinesia and bradykinesia to do things like move.
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It would appear that his Parkinson has indeed progressed like you said, made it up. However, we are just surprised that the progression is so big over such as short period of time. I mean, people say that Parkinson's progression is calculated in years, not months. He shows a world of difference just between now and last October. He thinks if things progress at this rate, he will be completely lose his mobility without meds within 6 months. So we keep think (or should I say hoping), that it wasn't the progression of the disease but something external.
More about himself, yes, he is elderly, 66 this year. For almost 5 years, he has taken Madopar (Levodopa+Benserazide by Roche, available mostly outside of US) and about 3 months ago, switched to Sinemet at the advice of our doctor. His daily Levodopa intake is about 1100 mg. No dyskinesia so far.
The progression of his PD was relatively slow up until last Oct. He would take half a tablet of Madopar (100 mg Levodopa) before he had to go to a meeting or a formal dinner. He said that the med usually kick in and set him to "ON" state within 30 minutes and last 2 to 3 hours. Since about the time when he started to take the meds regularly the wait time between med intake and "ON" state has become longer, and the length of the ON time has become somewhat unpredictable. And if he were to cut the med, the muscle's "numb and bloated" (his words) sensation becomes intolerable.
That's why the title of this thread immediately caught my attention.
Oh, he hasn't tried any agonist.
Thank you again!