This is kind of an old thread but I thought I'd go ahead and add my experiences with Azilect on the hopes that someone searching the archives might find it useful as one more data point.

I was diagnosed 2-1/2 years ago and started out on 0.25mg Mirapex three times a day, which was working well at that time. In trying to be proactive on my health care, my wife corresponded with NPF and they recommended a neurologist with a sub specialty in motion or movement disorders. None in Fort Worthwhere we live, but a small number in Dallas, including Dr Dewey at UT Southwestern Medical Center, so I went to him for a second opinion and liked him well enough that I switched to him as my primary neuro. First neuro was good, but Dewey was better. He initially upped my Mirapex to 0.5 mg and got me into the LS-1 study, and a few months later added 1 mg Azilect once a day. At my next appointment I complained of being tired and he added 200 mg of Provigil for the tiredness and sleepiness. Provigil is approved for narcolepsie, but not for this use, so he had to go to bat with Aetna to get them to cover it, which they ultimately did, but at an out of network cost. The Provigil works extremely well, and simply cuts the sleepiness without making me feel at all wired.

The Azilect itself has given me no problems with side effects other than the drowsiness. I'm reasonably cautious with my diet and have had no problems on the occasions that I've inadvertantly eaten some amountof cheese or hard sausage or the like. I think the key to these food interactions is moderation. I had a cold in the spring and the Azilect warned against any antihystamine, and when I called the neuro's office to see what I COULD take, they said Benadryl, which worked in this case.

One other recomendation to anyone with PD, join and buy a MedicAlert bracelet. In my case, I'm still able to ride 10-12,000 miles a year on my motorcycle, and I'd hate to go down, be unconcious, and have the paramedics give me something that would interact with one of my meds. When a friend and I rode from Texas to South Dakota and back last summer, I made sure that he knew that I was wearing the MedicAlert dog tag, "just in case."

I hope that my experiences above can be of help to someone else.

Brad
Fort Worth