I think so.

These are the drugs prescribed and the time schedule:

07.15 - Artane
08.15 - Sinemet 25/100 X .5
09.00 - Ropinerole 1
11.30 - Sinemet 25/100 X .5 + Amentadine 100
12.50 - Sinemet 25/100 X.5 -
13.15 - Artane
16.15 - Ropinerole 1 + Amantadine 100
16.30 - Sinemet 25/100 X .5
17.15 - Sinemet 25/100 X .5
19. 30 - Sinemet " " " " " " "
22.00 - 2.5 ml DXM

100mg of Amantadine was started on 9th January.
Another 100 mg has been added on the 16th.

Azilect will be added soon too!

What do you think? Is there anything that one could do without?

Also - how long does it take for Amantidine to start to help with the dyskinesia?

I really hope none of you are getting fed up with my constantly asking for help. I appreciate your advice more than you will ever know.

The immediate reaction is "No way!"
A healthy person could not hold to such a complicated and time constrained regime. While it may or may not be state of the art from a medical standpoint, it just is not going to happen. It needs to be simplified.

One approach that might be considered is an old one. Using standard (non-CR) sinemet, crush a day's worth into a bottle of water. Approximately on an hourly basis, take an appropriate sized swallow. Using that as a foundation, add in other meds as appropriate.

The greatest drug regimens in the world are useless if the patient can't follow them.

Thanks Rick. Yes we must get this sorted out. I realise its a mess. But I fear it will take a lot of encouragement on my part to convince my friend first and then the doctor. I shall begin to work on it 'though.

About the Amantadine - how long does it take to find out if it is working?
It will be difficult to tell I suppose, because I think the DXM is working well .
Even before Amantadine started, his tremor and dyskinesia had both improved.
I need to raise a toast to both you and Robert for directing me to that - with a glass of water?

Thanks ever so much.

I recall that dextromethorphan is not recommended if one is taking an MAO inhibitor, such as Azilect. You may re-check this, since TEVA recently announced its MAO B specific drug does not interact with tyramine; am unsure of the serotonin syndrome for which DXM is contraindicated. MrsD, are you out there? any comment?
Also, why the Artane?

Olsen, the Artane was initially started because of the tremor.

Today in an effort to reduce the drugs we've cut the afternoon Artane by half. A couple of days later that will also go. And then we'll attempt to get off the morning dose.

My friend says if Amantadine does not help at all with the dystonia (curly toe) by Saturday, he would like to come off it, i.e., 2 weeks after starting on the drug and one week after it was raised to 200mg.
He doesn't think that a higher dose may help or may take a few weeks to make any difference.

Is he right to believe that?

From my experience of drugs for bipolar, it takes a while to figure out the optimal dosage. I don't know if that is the same for Amantadine.

Please let me know your thoughts.