I think the woman in California got lost in the forest.. While she had decreased her sinemet significantly, she was on an incredible amount of "natural product", more than I'd want to take on, not to mention the cost. She reminded me of a friend who gave up cigarettes, but three years later was still chewing nicorette! She was not technically a smoker but....ya know she was still getting her nicotine fix.

Yes, Rosebud. But nicotine gum, while not a healthy habit, is a far better alternative to smoking cigarettes. Tobacco when smoked releases hundreds, if not thousands of toxins, chemicals and carcinagens. Just the fact that smoke of ANY kind is no longer being ingested by your friend is a huge step in the right direction.
Just thought I'd try to put a positive spin on things.
Keith...the "good" one!

With respect to Liquid Deprenyl Citrate, is anyone aware of any developments since these posts from 2008? It seems the medication showed real promise for PD patients, but was blocked by the FDA. Do I have this correct? Yet I've discovered an item called Selepryl, which looks/sounds like LDC, readily available for purchase online.

As a newbie feebly making his first attempts at researching anything related to PD, I feel a little lost. So... my question for those in the know... does strong evidence suggest Liquid Deprenyl Citrate is effective in treating PD? If so, how does one obtain it?

Given the depth of research performed by members of this forum, I presume there'd be a lot more buzz about LDC if there were really something to it. Would love to hear from resident experts.

Pretty thorough. -

"About five years after life extensionists discovered the results of the deprenyl/l-dopa interaction, reports in the scientific literature began to appear showing the long-term adverse effects of the deprenyl/l-dopa combination on Parkinson's patients. A study in the Dec. 16, 1995 British Medical Journal reported the worst long-term effects, with a sharp increase in deaths occurring in the period between 29 months and 41 months after beginning the deprenyl/l-dopa combination, with an overall death rate nearly 60 percent above that of patients using l-dopa alone.

More recent reports on the DATATOP study have shown that the early benefits of deprenyl vanished when it became necessary to add l-dopa to the patient's therapy.

Deprenyl is known to multiply some of the effects of l-dopa. It is likely that the deprenyl/l-dopa combination produces what is effectively an l-dopa overdose. Until more is known about the deprenyl/l-dopa combination, healthy people (and probably even those with mild Parkinson's disease) should avoid the deprenyl/l-dopa combination.

There are also possible long-term adverse effects of low-dose deprenyl without l-dopa. Deprenyl greatly increases the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), one of the body's natural antioxidants. On the surface, this appears to be a good thing. For years, people have been trying to find ways to increase natural antioxidant activity, especially SOD. In the process of destroying some free radicals, though, SOD, like most antioxidants, produces other free radicals. This is why complementary antioxidant systems must be kept in balance. "

Much more at http://www.futurescience.com/deprenyl.html

http://www.futurescience.com/contents.html

glutathione can be obtained in a cream form from a compounding pharmacy.

tried selegiline for a year, 5mg 2x/day, got a little energy boost but very little relief and sig. side affects, foot numbness, tongue "poking", buzzing in my ear. haven't tried the version that you put under your tongue.

funny how you never see diabetics arguing about the need to take insulin.

Soccertese,
to be fair there are different types of insulin, and different delivery systems, and they have pretty much similar types of issues to us, but the big difference between them and us is that their condition can swiftly become acute, and thus registers on the medical barometer........ from what I hear, when there is no fluctuation and levodopa delivery is smooth a lot of problems disappear......however there is not a way that is practical for all, even after 40 years.... unlike the modern insulin delivery systems that have given many diabetics back their lives..... and a better QOL.

What really needs to be done now, while we are waiting for better things, is much more careful prescribing and advice, and a real understanding across the board of the fact that both too much l-dopa and too little produce such similar side effects that it is incumbent on our doctors to remember that more is not neccessarily better.

It would be lovely to be able to think throwing a million supplements in would solve the problems of PD but we are all so different that I find it hard to see how we would all benefit from such costly and complex regimes...

It's called Duodopa. The problem is the approval of it. It's here and it works just like the insulin pump for the diabetic.

This is the experience of Par who is from Europe: he has given me permission to use this information. It describes how he was 6 months before Duodopa and how he is afterwards:

6 months before DuoDopa (oct 2008)
Put together as base for the first meeting with my new doctor, which turned out to be a new and very important chapter in my life.

All the normal symptoms of PD are there: Tremor, Slowed motion (bradykinesia), Rigid muscles, Impaired posture and balance, Loss of automatic movements.

Speech changes, Dementia.

Feeling very down or even depressed several days of the week. Suicidal thoughts starts to occur.

It is getting harder and harder to typewrite and handwrite, several hours every day.

During the off periods it is difficult to express thoughts, ideas etc. As a result of this I tend more and more to keep out of social happenings, event, party´s etc.

I can not feel any smells, apart the ones produced by my brain, ghost smells.

I often need to see the mens room. My sex life needs support from Viagra.

I have an increasing need for sweets.

My memory is getting worse every day.

Worst of all, my personality changes, going from reliable, social, strong, decisive, engaged, fast and the true achiever to something totally different and less attractive.


2009 - a new life

December 2008: My new new doctor offers me one week of evaluation to see and understand how I react on different medications and also to grade the level of severity with my PD. (She) referred me to the Duodopa team in Huddinge, Stockholm, where I was offered to try Duodopa.

2009 April: The DuoDopa was “installed”. I had a team of three nurses from Solvay, and the team from the hospital supporting me during the preparation, the operation and during the initial phase. I never felt nervous - the team was extremely professional.

The effects where immediate and extremely positive. If we look at the situation now, 6 months after start, following effects are noticeable:

no tremor AND no on-off effects

rigid only in the morning and in the evening

clear thinking all day long

I performed much better at work and is actually now doing interviews for new job

my lust for social life has come back

I am not nervous any more when doing presentations, meeting large groups etc

my speech is like normal - strong and clear

I remember things again

I believe in myself again

I FEEL NORMAL - I FEEL LIKE GOING 5-7 YEARS BACK