Hello,
This has been a bad 2 week period for my wife, 12 years PD. She has had 4 hospital ER stays [pain, hallucinations or constipation pain (9 days)]. She saw her PD neurologist yesterday and was told she could not qualify for DBS because of hallucinations unless they are med related and eliminated. I had hoped DBS would be appropriate for her because she met most of the criteria. Very disappointed. The only thing the neuro can do now is tweak the meds, my wife does not manage her meds well.
Her neuro wants wife to put weight back on and recommended a food additive of cornstarch and palm-coconut oils. Supposedly, this does not interfere with L-dopa. Has anyone used this type additive and could you make your own at home? Does butter effect L-dopa. I was thinking of making a mix of c-starch and butter?
Can anyone recommend something simple to increase weight but not block L-dopa?

Ashley, that sounds disgusting! What was that neuro thinking!

If you google "Mayo Clinic weight gain diet", you'll come to a very useful list of ways to gain weight.

Maybe I didn't give a good description of the weight gain supplement suggested by my wife's neuro. It is Duocal: "Super Soluble Duocal is a powder consisting of a balanced blend of fat and carbohydrate. A food for special medical purposes." Is anyone familiar with it or could you suggest other weight gain supplements that don't block L-dopa passage at the blood/brain barrier.
Can anyone suggest a diet that can put weight on and allow L-dopa pills to work?
John

John,
Really sorry for the struggles you and your wife are dealing with!
The supplement you described should not interfere with L-dopa absorption as long as it is not high in protein.
This explanation may help; Certain amino acids such as L-tyrosine, L-phenylalanine, L-tryptophan, and L-leucine which are present in most proteins tend to interfere with L-dopa (which is also an amino acid). They don't totally block the passage of L-dopa from the intestine to the blood, or from the blood into the brain, however these amino acids all share the same "transport system" to get through those barriers, so they compete with one another in the process. (Think of a crowded turnstile.) After eating food with lots of protein in it, the food amino acids released upon digestion flood the intestinal "turnstiles". Because their concentration is much higher than the L- dopa from meds taken near the same time, the L-dopa passage into the blood will be greatly slowed. The same scenario prevails if the dietary amino acids and the meds L-dopa reach the "turnstiles" at the blood/brain barrier at the same time. This is the reason to avoid taking L-dopa near the time of eating food with high protein content.
It is important that your wife's diet include some protein, of course, but foods such as cheese, eggs, meat would be best limited. Gelatin is one protein that is somewhat low in the "problem" amino acids.
I am a thin person who has a problem keeping my weight up, and my neurologist encourages me to keep supplement drinks like "Boost" and "Ensure" on hand, and consume them following a regular meal.
I hope that something I've written might be helpful, John. Feel free to PM me if you wish.

Robert