chronic levodopa use toxic?-janet paterson

[janet paterson <janet313@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

>    Subject: chronic levodopa use toxic?
>    From: janet paterson <janet313@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>    Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 08:04:52 -0400

hi all

as far as i have learned, dyskinesias and dystonias
associated with pd and levodopa (sinemet) longterm,
are connected to overmedication of levodopa
as the disease progresses and the response to meds
has to be fine tuned to a greater degree

in other words, as my neurologist put it,
the 'window' for good symptomatic response
beteween undermedicated 'poverty of movement'
and overmedicated dyskinesia and dystonia
(maybe one could coin the term a 'surfeit of movement')
gets narrower and narrower

i think the real 'blame' here
lies with pd and its degenerative aspect not the meds

that is the greatest problem we face at the moment
in re long term management of pd
in my humble opinion

i like to think of it as fine tuning an aging maserati
(i wish!)

a sledgehammer approach does not work

we cannot simply throw more meds at pd
to make the symptoms go away


janet
thirteen/sixteen years and still truckin

janet paterson: an akinetic rigid subtype, albeit perky, parky .
pd: 54/41/37 cd: 54/44/43 tel: 613 256 8340 email: janet313@xxxxxxxxxxx .
snail mail: 375 Country Street, Apt 301, Almonte, Ontario, Canada, K0A 1A0 .
a new voice: the nnnewsletter:  .
a new voice: the wwweb site:  .

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