I've had PD for 10years,and on one form of sinemet or another for most of that time.In my individual case I have found the following:!.Taking meds on an empty stomach increases effectiveness dramatically.I wait at least 45 mins. after dosing before eating anything.2.Eating any form of protein eggs steak etc before or shortly after negates any effect I get from sinemet.3. Liberal amts of water used while dosing seems to speed on time.4.Any caffine or alcohol tkes me immediately to off time.5.Some days doesn't matter what I do can't get any decent on time for meds.Could be i slipped and had a snack when I should not have or the waitress messed up and served me caffinated instead of decafinated.In closing i would say in my case diet plays a greater role then amt of med taken .This is strictly meant in my case all are different.Sure is one difficult disease to deal with.Wishing all the best.

Too much. Too little. Too late. Too early. Drives you nuts.
I do best if I start with a boiled egg with the first meds. And, at least until I started the mucuna, it could be anywhere from one hour to three until on. And, as Rosebud and others have learned, blood sugar is a real issue for some of us.

The biggest dietary impact for me has become MSG. Knocks my meds out the window. Easy enough to test for yourself. Just go and buy yourself a can of soup. Read the label so that you don't accidently buy some healthy soup though. If it messes with your symptoms, start reading labels.

Reverett123, I found your comment about MSG very interesting. My questions is, does the MSG still cause problem if you take a meal/soup with MSG 45 minutes after you take the med (in my father-in-law's case, Sinemet)?

Thank you very much!

It doesn't matter when in relation to anything. The effect is so total and overwhelming that it is as though I had never taken any meds. It completely blocks them even at triple and quadruple doses.

I think that what happens is that the glutamate, which is an excitatory neurotransmitter, just blows the dopamine, an inhibitory neurotransmiiter, completely out of the water. As a result it is as though there is no dopamine there. Scarey as hell. Lasts two to four hours.

I have found this too with the timing, water, and meals. I take Sinemet with plenty of water at three hour intervals so I time my meals in between the pills. This works out very well and I've been able to pretty much avoid the bumps in between. I also avoid large amounts of red meat and eggs anyway because of the high cholesterol thing.

Caffeine makes me nauseous now so I avoid it as much as I can. Just drinking a cup of coffee, with cream or not, makes me sick to my stomach. The same with caffinated sodas and tea now. I don't even go near alcohol either because of the nausea factor. It's pretty much Gator-aide and water, rootbeer, and ginger ale for me now.

John

That seems to be the best way to operate.Time the meals around the meds.only problem is that everyone else is eating at a different time.Guess they gotta learn.Maximizing the effectiveness of your ontime is #1 priority.We do learn to become an adaptable bunch,guess survival teaches.Best to you all

Thank you so much Reverett123, I truly appreciate the information. Being a Chinese family, we have MSG in almost every meal. I am going to start a strict 3-week MSG ban in my family immediately. Will keep everyone posted with his experience. I really hope that there will be some positive impact for him too!

My meal times work out pretty well. I take my first dose at 9:00 EST or 8:00 DST. I found that the time change messed me up big time so I stick to the same time year round irregardless to how we change the clocks. This works out so I have a pill an hour prior to eating because I eat late in my house anyway. I take the 6:00pm pill just prior to driving home, and by the time I get home from work, it's time to eat dinner. There's plenty of time in between meal plus dessert to take my 9:00. By then I'm all set for the evening until I take my night-cap (sinemet regular plus on CR) at bedtime.

I agree we are a bunch of adaptable souls. We have to be inorder to survive in this crazy world. I don't worry about other people eating before me. There's that new machine int eh kitchen called a microwave, which is the only cooking utensil I know how to use anyway.

John

I agree with the empty stomach idea as well as plenty of water. However I have found that the amount of sleep I get is also a strong factor for me. If I wake up after at the most 6-7 hour of sleep I can take my meds-(water at the bedside), then I'll be walking in 20 mins!! If I stay in bed for say 9-10 hrs it is usuually a good hour or more till the first dose kicks in.. go figure. I'm going to watch that for a while and I'll update ya with how it goes..Last night went to bed around 1am, my wife and daughter went to a concert. Woke up at 7am, took my meds and before I was out of the bathroom I had my legs.
Stay tuned..

changing my meds from the 100mg quick release regular to the 200mg CR a fortnight ago. I have adjusted my eating habits to best suit the max on time.

Like Rick I had a couple of 3 hour kick in periods. A tweak here and there reduced the kick in time back to the hour mark. My first meds in the morning are the quick release 100mg sinemet as they kickin in around 40 minutes. From then on I stay with the 200 CR around every four hours. It takes much longer for the CR 200MG to kick in Though it has a slower release time of 60 minutes to 80 minutes. There is still some tweaking to go but the overall picture is a much longer on time.