Jim's doctor is thinking of prescribing Sinemet at night to see if it helps Jim's muscle tightness. Anyone here take it? How much do you take and does it work well for you?

He's currently taking baclofen and tizanidine. Mornings are the worse for him. His legs are so tight I am afraid to even try to pry them apart for fear of breaking his knees.

By mid evening they are a little more loose and I can massage them to loosen up more.

MODS, if you think this should be in the meds section please go ahead and move it. I forgot about that section. Sorry.

Sandy

I've been taking Sinemet for about 3 years and I love it!!!! It's the only med that has helped me! When I started this clinical trial the doc took me off it and put me on Soma which was a huge mistake. I am now back on Sinemet and am much happier!

I highly recommend it!!!

Thank you Cheryl! Do you take it only at night like his doctor wants to try or more often? I am also curious if baclofen and tizanidine will be cancelled.

I tried baclofen and tizandine, they did not work for me at all. That's why I am on Sinemet. There are two forms. Sinemet and Sinemet CR.

SINEMET 25-100, containing 25 mg of carbidopa and 100 mg of levodopa, 2 tablets at night is what I am currently taking.

Sinemet CR: http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/sinemet_cr_ids.htm

I tried to the CR and didn't get the relief as well as the non-CR.

I didn't take it with the other drugs, obviously. I do take it with klonopin, 1 mg. only at night.

I have virtually no side effects from this drug. The only one I have is stomach upset, but most meds upset my stomach. The doc increased the levodopa (lodosyn) by 25 mg to try to counteract that, but we have discountinued that as it really didn't help.

I started with 1 25/100 tablet for 1 week then went to 2 tablets. Jim might need to take the stronger one. 25/250, but his doc will know which one is best for him. It's worth a try.

Thanks Cheryl! I am going to print this out for the doctor.

Isn't Sinemet a Parkinson drug? I guess that would make sense. My father had Parkinson and his muscles were very rigid. I believe he took Sinemet.

I'm going to ask my doc about it cuz Baclofen doesn't do diddly for me either.

Yes it is used for Parkinson's patients. But as we've found out, not all meds work for everyone! If you have a doc who thinks outside the box, docs have to treat symptoms...not just the disease!!! Good luck!

Amen sister! I said that very thing to Jim's doctor Monday. I told him he cannot treat Jim like a cookie vutter patient. Just because it's a ms drug doesn't mean it works for all. He agreed. As a matter fo fact we had several disagreements but we have a good relationship so it works out.

The doctor put Jim on Sinemet 10/100 once at night. So far we are on day three with no results so he has up'd it to two at night to see if that works. If by Friday we don't have any relief he's going to look into prescription Naproxen.

Give it more than a week! At least two on the two pills.

That's what I was thinking too but the doc seems to think Friday is a sufficient amount of time to gauge the effectiveness.

I'll tell him we're going to give it more time. He'll go along with that.

Let me ask you, does the nightly dose help your legs stay loose all day or only for awhile? Jim's legs usually loosen up by mid afternoon without Sinemet so I am curious.