used generic C/L

CR never "dissolved" in 24hrs, just turned gummy. sticks to the tip of a knife when i touch it.
IR dissolved immediately.

so from what i have read, CR stays in the stomach where it gets churned around, floats on stomach contents, might stick to stomach wall(?) and slowly releases it's drug in acid environment. i've read it's more effective with food but takes longer to kick in.

my experience is it sometimes doesn't kick in or kicks in much later than expected in which case i've taken IR to compensate and then i get a higher dose of C/L than i wanted when it does kick in. i guess when it doesn't kick in it gets swept out of stomach and past part of small intestine that absorbs amino acids and also explains lower bioavailability and why you need to take more CR than IR. likely same explanation for higher C/L in rytary.

This is very interesting, thank you for thinking of it, doing it, and sharing your results here with everyone

At our last appt. our neuro came into the room with four bottles of Rytary. He said he wasn't "pushing" them on us, but they had come out and if we were interested in trying them, we could have them. We took them, but have yet to open a single bottle. I wished we had asked him how it is different/better than regular CR sinemet that's been out for years now, but we didn't.

The concerns we have with any CR are exactly what you articulated: CR is even more affected by food than IR, and its dissolution is even more variable than IR. This can result in no/insufficient meds being in the system, or a big "dump" because it kicks in after you've had to take IR to get moving because the CR wasn't hitting. Neither is good.

So for us, as much as difficult as our dosing schedule is, we are sticking with IR.

Anecdotally, we had a very late dinner last night of spaghetti and slept for an incredible 4+ hours. Best sleep in a long time and we're not sure if it's because of the carbohydrate load of the pasta or the B1 (allothiamine) we've been taking for a couple of weeks now. Either way, we're grateful.

FYI: if you have concerns about gluten, which we do, you can get pasta made from Einkorn which is a heritage wheat. I believe it's gluten content is 14g v. the 42g in modern wheat. A 2oz. serving has only 1g of sugar but 9g of protein. High in nutrients too. You can find Einkorn products at health food stores or also online.



Going to

wouldn't hurt to try it and certainly not like an agonist where you have to dose up/dose down. maybe just try it at night to see if it helps you sleep better. and if you do like it and insurance raises the copay to where it's too expensive, same thing, just switch back to CR/IR.

if you try it i would think one might still have to add IR when needed.

the manufacturer, IMPAX labs, though, doesn't have the best track record for quality control, not sure exactly what problems they had such that the FDA delayed approval. they make other CR drugs.

Thank you soccertese for doing your experiment. Medication plays such a large part in our lives that it makes sense to understand as much as possible their effect on us.

I assume you did not take the CR pill that you failed to dissolve. It is usually best not to break up CR pills.

I've posted in the past on the effect of taking Stalevo dispersed in ascorbic acid (Vitamin C):

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread183360-2.html

I find it useful to measure the effect of the drug on me by doing finger taps.
A program to do this can be found at:

http://www.parkinsonsmeasurement.org...eToSideTap.htm

John

didn't take it, really couldn't since it dissolved into a sticky mass. wasn't testing dissolved CR, just curious about what shape it took in water as well as how fast IR dissolved.
50/200CR can be split, they wouldn't score it if it shouldn't be split. 25/100CR shouldn't be split.

irony is with IR you want to maximize gastric emptying, with CR you want to delay it so the pill stays in the stomach and slowly releases C/L

that's my interpretation.

The CRs have various forms of cellulose in them, thus the sticky blob they turn into. When the stomach empties, the pancreas secretes bicarbonate to neutralize the stomach acid and then the CR products let go of the drug for upper intestine absorption.

Some CR products use this type of matrix for the second round of the delayed release. The beginning IR is often in the coating of the tablet or capsule. There are many variants on this, with many scenarios....so one explanation will not fit all products.