I can feel your pain and desperation in your message. I will be praying for you.

How long have you had PD? This disease is one that will wear on you, each day can be different in how you respond to meds. I have followed the "pump" closely as have others on this site. I can tell you that you are in the right place for support. As far as the pump goes I have talked to reps at Abbott. They will not tell you anything beyond what is out in the press about it. In June of last year they released 12 week data of a 54 week phase 3 efficacy trial which showed great promise and positive results. This means the patients were on the actual drug, no placebo and they were evaluating the safety and efficiency of the medication. I estimate that from this the trial should be completed somewhere around late April/May 2012. To my knowledge this is the last phase before an application can be made to the FDA. This does NOT mean anything as far as whether or not application is made for marketing. Keep in mind this thing has been on the "fast track" since I think 2002! Hint: Follow the benjamin's, if it were for ED we would have had it yesterday!! I do not have the pump since I have had DBS. I am not eligible for the trials on it.

Here are some suggestions to get you through in dealing with PD.
- Lessen your stress if at all possible, this disease responds to stress. I can go from off to dyskinesia due to stress without any meds on board!
- Try to take your meds at the same time each day and at least 1/2 hour away from any food.
- make up a check sheet of 4 columns time, off, on, and on with dyskinesia.
start fresh one morning with usual starting med, lets say at 8 am so a check at 8 am off and circle 8am so you know you took the meds at 8. If you want, this is a good idea, write to the side what you took, I am only on one med so I dont write it in. Now you track how you are doing at 9am, 10am and so forth if you do this with the paper sideways and the time across the top, then off, on and on with dyskinesia at the left side you create an easy to follow graph of how you respond to meds and you can tell how long they last and if you are under or over medicated. This is a VERY telling story line. I would suspect that you are not getting enough levodopa. This can easily help you and your doctors see how you are responding. It tells them that you are serious about this in that you track how you are doing you're not just complaining that you feel off.
-get to a Center for Excellence, they specialize in PD and are located usually at university teaching hospitals. I don't know where you live but get to one. They deal with sometimes hundreds of PD patients on their clinic days, so who would you rather see? I have gone to different neurologists, movement disorder specialists, etc without much help. I went to the University of Florida, was seen by Dr. Okun and the first thing he said is that my DBS missed the target! Go to a Center for Excellence.
-so much more I can't begin to think of it all but read and carefully consider what you put stock in here and elsewhere, eliminate stressors, get the meds down and get to a CE. Let us know how you're doing, we unfortunately have something in common and this is the best forum I know of for support.


Jim