Hi Laura,

I was dx'd 2003 and i'm now off all meds since sept 2009, almost 4 yrs. The easiest drug for me to get off was l-dopa but I was only on it for weeks, tho well advanced in pd by then, so no serious withdrawal. However, before this I had to get off mirapex cold turkey after it put me into a psychosis six months into taking it. That was hell, but worth just quitting. I had about a week where I was indescribably miserable, like any street junkie in withdrawal, several weeks of lesser misery and about another two years before i was my old 'normal', relatively speaking.

Worst of all was getting off the drugs I was on the longest, last one i kicked - 5mg Selegiline (Eldepryl) an maob, which everyone seems to regard as harmless. I had to simultaneously get rid of Stillnoct [sleep aid that i had to take cos selegiline ruined my ability to sleep, totally ruined it!]. I didn't sleep for three days after quitting Stilnoct, had ferocious depression and anxiety, agitation, pacing the floor, manic thinking, then finally fell asleep from exhaustion.

Every day I put between me and quitting pd meds, the more of my old self i retrieve. I am extremely drug intolerant. One thing my atypical trajectory thru pd meds and quitting them has revealed is that half the stuff attributed to 'the pd personality' is in fact from pd meds. Once i got rid of the meds, i got rid of the pd personality. The pd meds homogenize us - and very quickly.

As for rebound of physical movement issues; these were less of a problem than rebound cognitive ones which really overshadowed everything. I prefer handling pd without meds and fully having my mind. And I got many good years out of Dopavite [amino acid therapy] which i still take. I think it has made me a slow progressor and i would have done even better on it if i had avoided meds altogether. I think they are truly harmful.

Muireann