I've started on the Apokyn pen. At least my knees are getting a bbreak since I started. I was falling down so much, I was ready to buy my first wheelchair, but I'll put it on hold for awhile.
Do any of you guys/gals remember Bella and Fabs from the old forum? Before Fabian passed on, Bella used to give us the day to day on Fabs. Remember, at one point , he was using the Apokyn pen and we had a thread about nausea in taking both Dopa and Apomorphine? Well, the antinauseant that the company has been "allowed" by the FDA to use with apomorphine is called "trimethobenzamide". This stuff (to me, and I must stress the point of only one opinion here) made my PD worsen, and the company had no alternative, so I just used dimenhydrinate (car motion sickness pills, no prescription) before my first dose of apomorphine.
Well, the stuff works (once again , one vote here). My first shot made me feel queasy, and after I got up to a therapeutic dose without antinauseant, I do get "the worms", as I call 'em, but it goes away in a short while.
Well, the short story is that I haven't fallen in a week (allowing my much battered knees a rest). The question to all here is, "they say that a typical dose has only short acting effects because of the short half-life of the compound in the body, but I am so much better at walking, i can almost throw away my cane for short distances, up to a day after a dose. It appears that there is something that the small amounts of drug left in the bloodstream is doing that is more long lasting, and has a positive effect on motor control. At least that's my take.
If you are getting to the point where you can stand up only with an aid, and are suffering bad "offs", I urge you to try the pen (it is expensive though). Self injection is really a peice of cake, doesn't hurt one bit (and this is from a guy who used to get big time butterflies when drawing blood) and is over in a few seconds.
Please give me and all of us any other "reviews" on the "pen". I realize that it is rather new here in America, but any pen newbies or vets, give us anything you ca as far as experiences, please cs