Honey I would press like ALL HECK for Amantadine for 90 days 2 or 3 x a day, 100 mg. before anything else, and I do better spacing my pills out all day long because 3 x a day ain't gonna git it. How long on meds??

Ronnie, I'll let you in on something,.......it sounds as though they have you on Controlled-release Carbo Leva Dopa (maybe SinimetCR?). If so ,here's the secret,........control release tablets will last only 6 hours , and since you ONLY take this drug 3 times daily,...then that means you awaken to the disease EVERY MORNING because your "medicine tank" in your body is now reading zero. I pointed this out to my doctor and the solution is to wake up inthe middle of the night to "med-up",.....yes,there is a danger in ODing , but I've been taking my meds 4 times a day for 11 years now! (I've had PD for 21 years now!) Good luck, Rickety.

Diet affects as well. My meds work best the less I eat.

That's interesting jjrfvd1 - now that you mention it, my sinemet works better when I eat less also. But what I have learned is that we are all so different and medicine varies greatly. For example, I would die before I took mirapex but I have some friends who benefit greatly from it.

We just have to find out through trial and error what works the best for us!

aiksanpains, be careful about mirapex. It works well for many people but the side effect of inducing compulsive behavioors like gambling, sex, shopping,computer use, make it dangerous. I used to take it but no more. Now I take sinamet 4x daily plus amandtadine and selegiline 2x and my symtoms are fairly well controlled. Be greatful that the meds work for you. We all have good days and bad ones. We all have on times and off times for response to meds. If you can trac your respons time you can fine tune your dosing. If your neurologist specializes in pd and movement disorders he will help you with this. Good luck and good health Alex

Hi,

I was dx'd in 2002. I started on sinemet 25/100 3x per day. Now I start the morning with 2 sinemet, then I take 1 per hour to 1 1/2 hours. I also take .5 mg of Mirapex 2x per day.

My dosage of mirapex has not been an issue for me. As I understand it, higher dosages of mirapex cause the problems.

I have not had problems with sinemet, either. My neuro lets me self-dose sinemet, and I am conservative with it vs symptoms.

My wife was concerned about using sinemet early. It kept me working 6 more years. I'm good with it.

By the way, I always heard (and verified myself) protein reduces the effectiveness of sinemet. I was told to wait an hour after eating to take a sinemet.

Hope this helps.

All the best,

Fred

Things to be careful with when you take Sinamet.

1. Be careful of eating to much protein , as it makes the medication not so effective

2. If you can try to take it on an empty stomach, it works better

3. When l first started taking sinamet, it did not work on me properly for approximately 3 months

I would recommend staying away from Mirapex, as it has a bit of a bad reputation for encouraging addictive behaviour.

good luck honey, and keep talking to us on this site, most people here have great advice

I take sinimet. Still trying to adjust the dosage. My doc told me I could play around with it to figure out the best dosage for me to take. He did make it clear to me to never take it more than 2- 3xper day.I can take 4xper day, not to exceed 2 @ a time/ or 6 in a day. I take carb/levo 25-100 tab act, generic for sinemet 25/100 tab. It caused problems with a bit of dizziness/foggy head @ first, so I cut back to 1/2 tab 4xper day. Getting more use to it now, so I take 1 full in the a.m.(7ish), 1/2 tab about 1:00ish, 1/2 around 5, and 1/2 @ bedtime (9:00-10:00). If I take to much @ bedtime, I have really weird dreams. Spacing it out 4xper day helps a lot on slowing down or stopping shakes. As time goes by I'm sure we will have to adjust to more...@ this point is working very well.

Ronnie,

Re: Mirapex -- About four months ago, my mother was taking levadopa/carbidopa, Mirapex-ER and Artane. We didn't know how well Mirapex-ER was working for her until she ceased taking it when insurance stopped covering the cost. About 1-1/2 to two months ago, she was put on Requip by her neurologist, which drug seemed to do nothing, so she stopped taking it after three weeks. Also, Artane was replaced with Azilect, which my mother had previously been on for a while. Long story short, her physical and cognitive decline continued, even speeding up drastically in the last month. Finally two weeks ago, my mother went back on Mirapex-ER; she is slowly improving, both physically and cognitively. For my mother, Mirapex-ER appears to be as critical as levadopa/caridopa...and without apparent side effects as are sometimes reported by others who take this drug, aside from some obsessive-compulsive behavior with respect to time spent on the computer. (My father has the same compulsion; he's also on a low-dose of regular Mirapex (i.e., not Mirapex-ER) for Restless Leg Syndrome.)

Re: Sinemet-CR -- About a month ago, my mother started taking Sinemet-CR around 4 am to help her with rigidity when she gets up around 7 am. It doesn't appear to be making much of a difference (yet). That being said, once she is stable again with the Mirapex-ER, perhaps the Sinemet-CR will also work better for morning rigidity. How is it working for you, Rickety?

I started with Azilect a year ago and then the Sinemet last month. All this info helps me a lot. I started the Sinemet because on Azilect I was having really bad days.

Just for my info do you get Amantadine from your pd dr or a psychiatrist?

Also - my eyes are so dry at work and the over the counter drops do not help. I asked my pd dr for a prescription of Restasis and she told me to go to my eye dr. I think she could have written the prescription for me.

I am taking sinemet 3x daily with one dosage of Azilect. Azilect seems to extend the effects of sinemet and is very effective at keeping me feeling good with few PD symptoms.

Ask you Dr about Azilect.