[maryfrances]

Has anyone tried the neupro patch? What did you think about it? Were there any side effects? Do you think it's better than Mirapex or Requip? Pros/cons?

Maryfrances

[rd42]

A friend of mine, another young onset age 37 I think, was on it. He said,

..However I now have new side effects. The patch makes me sick after I eat and I have heartburn almost every night while I sleep. The worst side effect of all is that I usually feel like a zombie. I have no drive and no desire to do anything. I am titrating down... I don't know what's worse, staying up for two days or feeling like a couch potato.

When my MDS gave me a trial I did some reading on a lot of the PD forums. I noticed that it seemed to most help those who were on more medications or farther into the progression of PD. I didn't start it. On the other hand, I'm a bit stubborn to starting medication. My rotten experience with Requip gave me more endurance for my symptoms. I'm getting desperate for some relief, but I'm not quite ready for some new meds.

As with most things about PD, some medications help and others don't, blah blah blah

Hey, there is one thing we do know... PD sucks!

Let us know how it goes if you decide to start the Neupro patch.

Robert

[aftermathman]

due to its being a patch the body will not ingest as much of the dop ag as in tablet form.

Hence he did not recommend it as it would not be strong enough for me. May not apply to you but something worth thinking about.

Good luck,
Neil.

[K.Ibsen]

What neuro patch are you referring to? I'm using one called the Exelon Patch that dispenses rivastigmine. Is this the one you're asking about or is this something else?

Karl

[ScottSuff]

Originally Posted by maryfrances

Has anyone tried the neupro patch? What did you think about it? Were there any side effects? Do you think it's better than Mirapex or Requip? Pros/cons?

Maryfrances

In Dec I went for a 6 month check and dropped Mirapex for the Neupro patch. I was going to ask about it but the Doc suggested it first. He said you will feel worse before you feel better. He was correct about that!

I'm sleeping better on the positive side. Hadn't slept over 5 hrs straight in a long time, since the patch I've gotten some 7+ hours nights of sleep. Felt good!

Sometimes the patch will itch. Not suppose to put in the same place in a 14 day period. You would think thats not hard. I'm looking for new spots because of the slight irritation. Think I'll just shave the rest of my legs so I don't look that funny at the gym. Ha!

Overall the patch isn't giving me the bang that Mirapex did. Tremor and weakness comes out by 7 PM. Yeah PD does SUCK! However Mirapex messes with the head. Not sure which way to go now. Doc talked about in Europe they can go up to the 8mg patch and he hopes it's approved here soon. He's seen good results from his patients.

I also was dx in my 40s.

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask anymore questions. PM, email or post to thread doesn't matter.

Scott in the hills of TN

[maryfrances]

Hey Scott

Well, I've been on the patch for 2 days and nights.
I was sleeping well, but now I can't sleep. Ahh!

M

[rileyder]

Intersting questions, and answers. I can't sleep - not on a patch, but azilect & mirapex. Thanks for asking the Question, good comments, keep them coming all.

QUOTE=maryfrances;215331]Hey Scott

Well, I've been on the patch for 2 days and nights.
I was sleeping well, but now I can't sleep. Ahh!

M[/QUOTE]

[toob]

Hi,
I was diagnosed around 2 years ago at 36, and have been using the patches for nearly 18 months now. Initially also with Azilect, now with Azilect AND a low dose of Ropirirole....

I have had a pretty good experience with Neupro - the initial side effects - nausea and drowsiness - didn't last long, but returned for a week or so on every dose increase.

I found that I had to increase the dose more quickly than I expected - am now using 12mg a day.

In my case the Ropinirole was much more unpleasant - took several months to feel OK again - nausea and sleepiness again. And dizziness, and a depression that seemed to hit me 30 mins after every dose, and then thankfully lifted.

In general my side effects are lack of desire to sleep, a general spaced-out feeling and cramping of various muscles. Possibly a result of too much agonist bashing my receptors - have recently cut back a bit, with an increase in PD symptoms and decrease of side effects - difficult balancing act.

Hope that's of some use!

Toob.

Originally Posted by rileyder

Intersting questions, and answers. I can't sleep - not on a patch, but azilect & mirapex. Thanks for asking the Question, good comments, keep them coming all.

QUOTE=maryfrances;215331]Hey Scott

Well, I've been on the patch for 2 days and nights.
I was sleeping well, but now I can't sleep. Ahh!

M

[/QUOTE]

[rd42]

What sort of relief are you getting from the Neupro Patch?

[BrownEyedGirl]

I was diagnosed almost 3 years ago but my symptoms were pretty mild so we decided to wait on meds. In Janaury I started on a trial of Sinemet (so the MDS and I would know for sure that it was PD since my symptoms have been very slow to progress). I had a very positive response to the Sinemet and am now weaning off of it and titrating up on the Neupro patch.

I actually like it - I feel good most of the time. I do have side effects: quite a bit of nausea (but I am titrating up on the patches every week) and I haven't slept much since starting it. My skin is pretty sensitive and I get red marks just from bandaids. So, I'm not surprised that I do get red squares from the patches. Towards the end of the 24 hour period the patch starts to itch a little and when I take it off I have a red mark. I just wash it with warm soap and water and use Aveeno lotion. The red mark is gone by the next day. Because my symptoms are still pretty mild, I will only go up to 6mg/24hours so I will be up there in about 10 days. I'm hoping the nausea will get better by then. From what I read, in the clinical trials about 40% of people had nausea during the titration but only 8% had nausea once they stopped titrating.

The thing that surprised me is how big the patches get. I liked the size of the 2mg patch and it was easy to find spots for it. I'm a fairly small person so I don't really like the size of the bigger patches. I also don't like to put them on my abdomen because everytime I raise my arms they start to pull and peel off.

Ok, that's my 2 cents!

Lora