There have been posts here on the search for drugs that could be neuroprotective for people with Parkinson's. It's possible that there may be some drugs available now that can be used off-label to slow or stop the progression of PD. The drugs that I've come across are in the opioid receptor antagonist class and one of them is cough syrrup, Dextromethorphan, sold over the counter. Another is Naltrexone or low dose naltrexone which I have been taking for 28 months. My PD does not seem to be worse over that time but maybe that's because of the sinemet and not enough time has passed.
On the old forum, before it crashed and burned, there was a member, RLSmi, who said he was taking Simply Cough which has Dextromethorphan as it's active ingredient. I noticed that RLS has joined this forum. I saved his old post on the other site and re-posted below. Hope you don't mind RLS. I found it interesing and hopeful, if I lose my LDN source, I will probably be taking DM. If you see this post RLS, would like to know how you are doing and if you still see DM as a drug to stop or slow PD progression.
I have also posted research by Dr. Hong of the NIH on DM below. I also emailed him about LDN and he said it's worth taking but he's not sure about dosage.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Abstract
Regards, Ashley
RLSmi
Braintalk 04/12/06
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 93
Default *Attempting neuroprotection with DM*
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The third link Ashleyk listed in her post describes research on neuroprotection in a mouse model of PD using the drug Dextromethorphan (DM). DM is in the same class of drugs as naltrexone, which also has neuroprotective effects in the same system. Because DM is availablae over the counter, I have been taking it instead of naltrexone daily for more than a year at a dose of 5 mg, along with sinemet, amantadine and high-dose CoQ10. I am four years into my PD Dx, and I may still be in the sinimet honeymoon period, but my wife and I both think that something is keeping my symptoms from progressing.
At WPC I spoke with Dr. Jau-Shyong Hong, the senior author of the article mentioned above, after a presentation he made there on the role of glial cell inflammation in PD. His research group in North Carolina has been working on the mechanism of action of these drugs and the natural hormone dynorphin in neuroprotection. He was very interested in my story and we have been in communication about this several times since then. He hinted that there may be trials using DM for PD neuroprotection either planned or going on in other countries.
DM is most commonly used in cough medicines that also contain other active ingredients, and Dr. Hong was emphatic in specifying that any attempts at using it for neuroprotection should be with a preparation in which DM alone was the active ingredient. The preparation I am currently using is called Simply Cough. It is manufactured by McNeil Laboratories, who also make Children's Tylenol. When I described this process on this thread several months ago, someone added the precaution that DM should not be taken by someone also taking a MAO inhibitor.
Although I do not recommend that others start using DM, it seemed appropriate to post this information on this neuroprotection thread.
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/ Last edited by RLSmi : 04-13-2006 at 01:28 AM.