peg,
i'm actually responding to both of your posts since i last read the thread.
i can understand the "not responding to dopaminergic therapy," especially with the autonomic system. I would be even more inclined to understand and agree if the words "no longer responding" were used, and you offered a sensible hypothesis..which is, do we know what an advanced patient who has never been on dopamine or survived going off of it looks like? Well the researchers better race to the l-dopa deprived countries to find some before Merck gets there with the UK's sinemet.
But as a person so clearly described in your post with your theory who is dependent on this medication and miserable on it at the same time, and last but not least, one who pays all the professionals an outrageous sum of money every month for insurance, services and medication - approx.
$1500 a month -
I get frustrated. Your theory rings true in many ways.
I'm not sure who they is either....it's more like who isn't part of "they"?
paula
Quote:
Originally Posted by pegleg
I don't know if this says much or not, but we have to have a translator to read the article:
Rev Med Suisse. 2009 Aug 26;5(214):1650-5.
[Management of Parkinson's disease in 2009]
[Article in French]
Maertens de Noordhout A.
Service universitaire de neurologie, Hôpital de la Citadelle, Bd du 12e de ligne, 4000 Liège, Belgique. al.maertens@chu.ulg.ac.be
The cause of Parkinson's disease remains unknown and no cure or prevention exists so far. Levodopa remains by far the most potent symptomatic therapy, but induces side-effects such as motor fluctuations and abnormal movements, which can somewhat be counterbalanced by optimizing levodopa plasma levels or acting at receptors level with long half-life dopamine agonists. In severe cases, functional surgery with deep brain stimulation can be offered. Some non-dopaminergic symptoms like dementia, freezing, postural instability or dysautonomia do not respond to dopaminergic drugs and need special care.
PMID: 19772196 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] |