How long do any of you get out of an increase in sinemet or any of the other medications?

It seems to be about 3-5 months now where as before I got almost 8 months. The reason why I'm asking this is I feel that I'm not feeling the full effects of the meds like I used to. It's as though I'm heading back to the way I was before the increase in March, and after such a short period of time. This has me concerned that this may not be the idiopathic PD, but something worse like the P-Plus diseases. Thus, her labeling of this as Parkinsonism with spasticity and dystonia.

My piano playing is still pretty good with good and bad days, but overall I'm stiff and sore in my bicep muscles and my legs, and the dystonia has been hitting me more in the night and early mornings. My balance isn't as good as it should be either, and I keep getting dizzy spells. I had one of the "head twirling" ones where it felt like I was being pulled over to the left side while sitting at my desk at work the other day. This nearly caused me to fall out of my chair. I promptly put my head down on the desk and let it pass.

I know that this is a designer disease, but this design is not to my liking!

John

I frequently only get 3 months relief from a medication increase. Now I already feel like the Stalevo I increased only a month ago at the end of June is not working as well as it did.

I am also having a problem with pain in my biceps and wondered if anyone else had that. I haven't seen much written about arm pain in PD. If I put my purse on the car seat next to me, it hurts to pick it up with my arm out-stretched, so now I keep it closer. I also have a problem playing guitar because my arm hurts going around my guitar. I have leg cramps in the night and morning too, but that seems more common.

Thank you for the response, Chicory about the medication. 3 months seems to be it. I thought I would have gone longer than this, but maybe my hopes were set too high for such a good thing because I really did feel great for this rather short period of time. The thing is, how much can they keep increasing this stuff before we've reached a limit.

I wondered about the bicep muscle pain too. I keep looking at my arms to see if I've bumped into something and have a bruises. I'm sorry to hear about your guitar playing. That must be both painful physically as well as emotionally. I can understand your frustration because the pain gets in the way, and then the stiffness most likely effects the coordination of the fingers and movements.

When I lose my piano, I'll probably jump off the nearest bridge into the dirty Merrimack River! This is my soul and probably yours too, and if I ever lost it I would definitely lose my mind.

John

we are all unique in our medications protocols. The amount of time between med changes, well, that changes too. The only thing consistant about your meds is their totally random effects.
Welcome to the world of Parkinsons!!

Charlie

I get just about a year