I have a friend who because of a few falls got put in a nursing home.He was doing ok did his own meds etc.Now he is confused and halluncinatng.
I have pd and know how to much can cause but hard to get to advocate to help him.
Im a firm beliver PD leaves the mind intact but the drugs we take can cause big problems.
I myself cut mine almost in half with comtan and much better memory.
Another friend got put in a locked unit .I saw the meds being messed up and reported it only to get banned by the greedy home,
I think there are many with PD who are fallen victim to nursing homes who keep people there unjustly.
Thanks
john

John,
Sorry to hear about your friend. My dad is in an assisted living place (not pd related) and although it has a decent rep, I have low confidence in a number of people involved with his care just from being there frequently and observing in real time, so I understand your frustration.
On the meds front, I cut way back on the c/l and added mucuna as I started mistrusting big pharma meds. When I mention it to my neuros, they don't defend pharma, but they are uninformed about mucuna and other natural options.
Do you have anu thoughts on carbidopa or pharmaceutical levadopa as being harmful?

Eric

ed, it's great that mucana is helping you. i keep putting off trying it but am going to!!
as far as long term survival taking C/L, here's an interesting article written in 2002. it came up on the first page of my search and if memory serves me i think it's conclusions are still valid. you basically live a lot longer than before C/L became available. brain studies on people taking C/L for a long time by people not having pd, treated for dystonia or other non-pd diseases or were misdiagnosed and whose substania nigra was not damaged, showed no measureable brain damage and some brains were autopsied. t'here's always a chance that the pd damaged brain could be damaged by C/L but the evidence points to pd, not C/L
these studies just look at cellular damage, not quality of life etc, but the paper is worth a read.

http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/433387_3

a recent study was done using much larger qty's of carbidopa to test if carbidopa at qty's greater than 200mg can penetrate the BBB, which wouldn't be good since it would inactivate the enzyme in the brain that converts l-dopa to dopamine. you want this done while the l-dopa is outside the brain, not in the brain
Are high doses of carbidopa a concern? A randomized, clinical trial in Parkinson's disease - Brod - 212 - Movement Disorders - Wiley Online Library


here's another article about a study on patients taking more than 800mg/day showing the the 800mg limit by insurance companies should be reconsidered since patients did better. i think this is actually an 8 pill a day limit, not a mg limit.
Carbidopa/levodopa dose elevation and safety concerns in Parkinson's patients: a cross-sectional and cohort design -- Brodell
et al. 2 (6) -- BMJ Open

Mucuna versus Parkinson: treatment with natural levodopa - Rafael Gonzalez Maldonado - Google Books

haven't read what's on this webpage so admittedly could be a scam and i apologize if it is.

Soccer, thanks in advance....will try to get to all the info this week....

Eric

Soccer,
Good info on c/l as a positive for pd'ers, hard to do without to be honest. Always have it in my head from the Hinz cohort about carbidopa leading to a b6 deficiency which sets in motion deficiencies in many areas leading to an acceleration in symptoms wosening. I know they sell their regimen and have a monetary interest, but who knows if it is correct.

Eric