Do your meds work if taken before arising?
 

If I get up and take the morning round at, say, 5:00 AM, go back and sleep until 7:00, it is as though they never existed! I couls see it with the sinemet and stomach enzymes breaking it down. But so far as I know that doesn't apply to Requip. Anyone have any luck here?

Hello reverett123, - I use to take my morning medicine Requip 5mg , when I wake up, about 4-6, then I sleep for 2 hours . I feel good doing that, I take Madopar [Sinemet] with my breakfast. It is easier to start the day like this, have more energy before lunch.
I thought I was the only one who did it this way, using Requip as a sleeping pill !

Same here. I take the Requip early so that i can sleep through the Nausea, wish i could do the same at Lunch and Dinner.

I don't always do it, but when I do, it works.

I was thinking of trying this because I end up waking up around 4 or 5 am with the dystonia and stiffness. The problem is once I'm up, I'm up for the day because I have a hard time falling asleep afterwards.

John

my routine so to speak
 

I almost always wake up somewhere around 3 AM
or when I find it hard to breathe, or feel shakey in the night,
I will take the meds -
I do one thing some donot do -rev,
I thank God for the pills so they will work, and not harm me - so my faith is not in the pills as much as my faith is that God will work miracles, because
I live my life as though everything is a miracle - because it is...
the only time my meds do not work as well is if I eat a heavy meal or one with red meat, and I will take another levodopa carbidopa, to offset it,
and if you take pills on an empty stomach, do not take motrin that way -
eat organic crackers first...

I start my day with carbidopa/levodopa about 7:30. I'm usually too stiff to do much till that goes to work. Then I take another dose a few hours later. I do have a tendency to get tired after the first dose and want another hour or two of sleep. About a month ago, I started taking Wellbutrin 150 XL with the first dose of carbidopa/levodopa. That has reduced the drowsiness. I haven't noticed that sleeping after the first dose has any diminishing effect on the potency of the drug. If anything, sleeping until it takes effect makes me feel better. But then again, it seems I can never get too much sleep.

Taking a dose of carbidopa/levodopa at night with my clonazepam also helps me sleep. Without it, the rigidity and joint pain keeps me from sleeping. The clonazepam stops the tremors pretty well, but doesn't help with the other symptoms. The two together have worked well for me so far.

I tried this last night with pretty good results. I was taking my 1/2 Sinemet just as I was going to bed, and only an hour or 1-1/2 hours after my last full Sinemet. This worked okay for awhile, but not so recently.

Anyway last night I held off taking the 1/2 until I started stiffening up around 2:30 - 3:00 am. This 1/2 dose helped me get back to sleep until my usual 6:30. 7:00 rise.

Thanks for sparking the idea. ;)

John