For the first time today I caught myself thinking, "Damn! This stuff may actually be working!" I quickly stifled myself lest the Gods of Placebo be aroused but thought it time to report.

The first days were tough. Perindopril makes my symptoms worse for a couple of hours and I feel like crap, too. This is not a drug for taking when you need a boost. Things were not helped any by my GP's prescription of 8 mg daily when the manufacturer says start at 4 mg and go up to 8 mg after a month to get used to it. So I was a bit disappointed at first. But I twinked and fiddled and have found that 4 mg at bedtime avoids the problems.

I have fixed the problems that I created, but have I gained anything yet? Until today my answer would have had to have been, "Welllll, maybe." After all, it had barely been a week. While I had a feeling of favorable change, it was pretty vague and might have a certain amount of wishful thinking. And just last Friday, a mere three days ago, I had rushed home at mid-day just steps ahead of a couple of hours of "offtime". So I was a little paranoid and was going to be cautious.

Honestly, that was my intent. I don't know how I ended up at WallyWorld. Not just at it, but all over it for over an hour followed by a stop at a grocery store on the way home. Folks, I have pretty much been home bound for the last couple of weeks due to some problems with entacapone. Going up to the mail box in this heat had been a big deal. But today I surprised myself and conquered Mt. WalMart.

True, I did need an hour of recovery when I got home. But it beat collapsing in the floor with the pooches like I would have done a week ago. And tomorrow may be worse. But it may not. And it is true that I have a little dyskinesia. But I am trying to reproduce a bloomin' *40%* increase in the dopamine levels in my brain in one month's time! A little Dk is a sign that it may be happening, so I will start whittling the sinemet and requip down. Already have.

And so, onward - through the fog....