Curious about Apokyn
 

Would like to know if anyone out there has tried Apokyn for delayed response to L-Dopa. If so, has it been beneficial?

Apomorphine
 

Apokyn is apomorphine for anyone wondering. I haven't tried it, though.

My husband was on Apokyn before he had DBS. It was amazing and we were so grateful to have it. We would go out to dinner and he would freeze and not be able to get out of his chair. A quick shot of this and he was up and running again almost immediately. The trick is, you learn to dress so that your belly is easily and discreetly accessible. I had to give the shots because when he needed them, he was too nonfunctional to do it himself. He suffered no ill effects from it's use. Some folks experience nausea but he did not have that problem. Great stuff! In Europe, you can get a pump but as far as I know only injections are available in the US.

Apokyn
 

Thanks gaykir. My wife has had 4 dbs surgeries, with the best result being it alleviated her tremor on her right side. It was pretty severe so that was a major blessing. Unfortunately her medication doesn't always kick in and she needs something to take over until the sinemet takes effect. She was never really able to reduce her medication after the dbs but we're still hoping that her latest surgery will help more on that. Meanwhile, we're hoping Apokyn will help fill in the gap. Thanks again, Gary

I hope your insurance covers it - many do not and it is very expensive. However, it was such a blessing for us we'd have paid even if our insurance didn't cover it. Fortunately, our plan did cover it.

Our insurance will cover the medication. How is your husband doing with the dbs?

There's no way to say this gently but he died within months of having his surgery. It had nothing to do with the DBS however. He had swallowing issues and was aspirating into his lungs. After much research he decided he did not want a feeding tube. He was 60. One of the very first signs that he had "something wrong" were a couple of choking episodes so the issue with swallowing was with us all through his PD journey. And please, do not feel bad for asking.

As you must know, there are all these little variations with how the disease manifests itself from person to person so just because PD effected him in this manner, does not mean anyone else here will have the same experience.

I try to stay away from this forum but I have to come back periodically to check on the status of the many friends he made on this board through the years. We go all the way back to the BrainTalk days. Kevin has been gone 5 years and I'm still checking on his friends here. Good luck to you and yours! I wish you only the best.

Good news about Apokyn
 

My wife just had her 1st experience with Apokyn at the University of Cincinnatti Health Center. It was her first titration with several folks attending, including her neurologist, two nurses and some visitors from World Meds that distrubutes the Apokyn medicine. The visitors had never experienced the results from anyone other that DVD's they had seen. It was a real treat for all of us. I took her to the office in a very off condition and within 10 minutes of the first injection (which they had me administer. Yes, I was nervous.) she started recovering. To normally get her back from this condition it would have taken an hour with a double dose of sinemet and comtan. She usually takes her meds every three hours. It had been seven since she had taken her meds so she was basically totally incapacitated. Could not even open her eyes. She was in an on condition in 30 minutes and it lasted for 1 1/2 hrs. Had been taking nausea meds so there wasn't any nausea problems. Has been five days and she takes injections as needed to compliment her sinemet. So excited. Working well. Will post results after we have had more experimentation. For all advanced Parkinsons patients, I recommend giving it a shot. (pun intended) Gary

I am delighted to hear it was successful for her. We could not have done without it when we needed it. It always surprises me that more patients are not prescribed it. It's always so amazing. Kevin's first dose was the same. I needed help just to get him out of the car and then all the other MDs came in to watch the results when the shot was given. What a godsend. It's I hard to describe the results. On e again - congrats and thanks for the update.