I had the opportunity to scientifically investigate the effect of various vitamins, etc. on the absorption of the Sinemet that I take to control my Parkinson's symptoms. If you are interested, some of the results from that study are shown below.

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Sinemet dosage: Two (2) 25/100 tablets taken 5 times a day (first dose at 7:00 am, remaining doses taken every 3 hours)

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Vitamine E
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A single, 400 I.U. dose of vitamin E was taken with the initial 7:00 a.m. dose of Sinemet.

Vitamin E markedly interfered with the absorption of the Sinemet. It actually made the observable tremor and dyskinesia worse.


CO Q-10
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A single 50 mg tablet of CO Q-10 was taken with the initial 7:00 a.m. dose of Sinemet.
Some initial improvement in the absorption of the Sinemet was noted but the benefit didn't extend beyond the 2nd dose of Sinemet at 10:00 a.m.

One 50 mg tablet of CO Q-10 was taken with each of the 5 doses of Sinemet for a total of 250 mg for the day. There was a significant improvement in the absorption of the Sinemet with a noticeable decrease in observable tremor for the entire day.

Two 50 mg tablets of CO Q-10 were taken with each of the 5 doses of Sinemet for a total of 500 mg for the day. At this dosage, CO Q-10 significantly interfered with the absorption of the Sinemet. It actually made the observable tremor and dyskinesia considerably worse.

Three 50 mg tablets of CO Q-10 were taken with each of the 5 doses of Sinemet for a total of 750 mg for the day. The results were extremely poor.


Centrum, New Formula, Multivitamin
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A single tablet of Centrum was taken with the initial 7:00 a.m. dose of Sinemet. An improvement in the absorption of the Sinemet was noted but I experienced nausea for over an hour. Others might fare better.


L-Glutathione (Source Natural)
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A single 50 mg tablet of L-Glutathione was taken with the initial 7:00 a.m. dose of Sinemet. There was a significant improvement in the absorption of the Sinemet with a noticeable decrease in observable tremor for the entire day. I felt remarkably well during the day.

I also evaluated 250 mg and 500 mg dosage levels with increasingly poorer results.


I have incorporated a single 50 mg tablet dose of L-Glutathione into my daily drug routine for the past 3 years.

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Steve

Are you tremor dominant or akinetic/rigid or mixed? Thanks for sharing your success and problems with supplements.

Hi Steve,

Interesting! Over the past two months, we've been making a similar experiment in paring Sinemet with Glutathione and observe a markedly convincing improvement in uptake. Jan's doctor who specializes in immune disorders specifies Allergy Research Group's Acetyl-Glutathione as the only one that's viable.

Currently, that's 1 tablet of Acetyl-Glutathione pared with 1 tablet of 10/100 Sinement three times a day for Jan. Away from food by an hour.

Some say that whey powder (goat or cow's milk) might do the same, taken not at the same as Sinemet, of course. Haven't tried that.

Trisha

I'm more rigid. My biggest issue is loss of strength and fatigue.

That is interesting, too. The most important thing I've learned, though, is that mega-doses of vitamins are a very dangerous thing and should be avoided. Thanks for your note!

Steve

Thank you for this. It could, over time, produce a valuable database for all.

Anti- acid drugs, Prilosec, etc interfere also

Sinemet CR at 200/50 2x for total of 400 mg (actual quantity available due to CR form is about 350 mg). Taken at 5:00 AM. Followed at 6:00 AM by 750 mg creatine monohydrate as single capsule (NOW brand).

Results were noticeable and very positive by 6:30 AM and continued so until about 7:30 AM when an unmistakeable reversal was noted and a period OFF began and continued until approx noon. Additional sinemet scheduled at 9:00 AM had no obvious effect. The reversal at noon back to a normal ON state was normal as was the rest of the day.

Comment- I think this was a case of the uptake of sinemet from the small intetsine being blocked temporarily by the creatine, an amino acid. Sinemet (actually the levodopa portion) is moved from the gut into the bloodstream and then past the blood brain barrier by means of specialized transport molecules. These structures are sized to fit particular size ranges of amino acids and will not interact with others. Therefore some proteins (amino acids) will interefere while others will not. Also, the time it takes to clear one amino acid will impact the handling of a second amino acid.

I think that the initial dose of sinemet made a good start, but the addition of the creatine, while it initially gave a boost to my system, interfered with the later dose of sinemet with the resulting slump as supplies of both dwindled with the mutual competition. By noon the creatine levels had dropped enough for the system to right itself.

The creatine did have a very beneficial initial effect and is worth some effort to determine if there is a way to use it. Earlier I had tryed taking it at the same time as the sinemet with ubsatisfactory results, as might be expected. I had also tried taking the creatine at bedtime. This had the unfortunate effect of shifting the considerable stimulant effect and making sleep impossible as well as interefering with the morning dose of sinemet.

One problem is my need to space sinemet at intervals of approx two hours and the four hour window that creatine is present to interfere. A patient with a longer spacing might be able to postpone the next sinemet longer and allow the creatine to clear.

Another possible approach might be to take a large dose of sinemet first thing in the morning and allow more time for it to get started and to take the creatine at that time. Then coast on the first wave until the creatine starts to wain and hope to hit the "sweet spot" of the next large dose of sinemet.

Working out this problem may be more important than is obvious due to the fact that several potentially valuable compounds may pose similar problems (carnitine and tyrosine, for example).

reverett, I'm so happy to see people like yourself trying to put science into these claims that "such and such" is good for Parkinson's. We are surrounded by too much hype.

Thank you!

Steve

Trisha, I happened to re-read your post and just realized how similar our findings are to each other. That doesn't happen very often. I'm sorry that I was slow to recognize how important your finding might prove to be. (Is it okay if I claim "Parkinson's Fog"?)

I personally take "L-Glutathione 50 MG" by Source Naturals that I buy off the Internet from Herbspro. I only take one tablet in the morning with my first dose of Sinemet. I'll admit that I have never tried paring a tablet with each and every dose of Sinemet.

At the time we were planning our study, my neurologist wanted to follow up on a paper he'd seen somewhere that was praising the virtues of very large doses of Glutathione. That proved not to work for me.

Excellent post!

Steve