Hi EugeneS,

Speaking from my own experience, there are two schools of thought about dopamine agonist (Requip and Mirapex). Try to stay off of medication as long as possible and start a agonist as soon as possible. It is believed that dopamine agonist have a neuroprotective ability.

As already mentioned dopamine agonist have some serious side effects. Suddenly falling asleep and Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) are two of the better known side effects.

Here is the 64 million dollar question. How badly do your symptoms affect your quality of life? Are you still able to work without medication? Are you still independent and able to care for yourself and others without medication?

Requip and Mirapex both did absoulety nothing for me except make me want to sleep all the time. Everyone is different and our drugs affect us differently.

I hope this helps,

GregD