Having a break

[Macelott2]

My husband dx 29yrs ago.

I am thinking of suggesting he stops taking his meds for a day, to see what he would be like. But am a bit worried what the reaction would be after all these yrs of various drugs. Any advice!!

[Formydad2014]

Macelott2 - what meds is he on? For an "on/off" evaluation at the neurologist's office, they will tell a patient not to take Sinemet for 12 hours prior to the test. However, it is my understanding that stopping Sinemet cold turkey is dangerous and can cause issues beyond returning Parkinson's symptoms. I would check with his doc before you stop abruptly. Best wishes to you and your husband.

[Macelott2 in reply to Formydad2014]

Hi formydad 2014

Thanks for ur reply, he is now only on sinemet cr and madopar dis,as required. Was taken off most of his meds about 2yrs ago due to hallucinations. Now not very mobile due to this.

[Hidden]

Remove drug treatment under guidance and monitoring of a physician.

Drugs have side effects and more drugs are prescribed to treat these side effects.

[soup]

I am confused. Is he not very mobile due to the drugs or due to having so few?

What does he think about your idea?

[froggatt55]

Hi Macelott2

I wouldn't advise doing this without medical supervision

[Pete-1 in reply to froggatt55]

If you stop taking Dopamine agonists or Levodopa based drugs very suddenly then you run the risk of NMS (Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome). This is NOT a very significant risk especially if you have only been taking low doses for a short time. Anyway, it is worth avoiding that risk as NMS is potentially fatal. Google NMS for more detail.

Weaning off these drugs should be done very slowly, that is over several weeks or months rather than days.

Also be aware that stopping Dopamine agonists can be very unpleasant. Some on this forum advise using morphine tablets (didn't know morphine was available in tablet form) especially if you have RLS (Restless Legs Syndrome) as a PD symptom. Search for Dopamine Agonist Withdrawal Syndrome (DAWS) in the HealthUnlocked forum for more detail.

[Susie01]

I am with most of the comments above. If meds are causing side affects, read the information on each medication to see what the most likely culprit is. Discuss it with your medical professional. For me, I have had to weigh the benefit of a medication against the side effects in my decision to continue it. Some meds will take days to clear your system so you could not tell if it really made a difference in just one day. I had to be off of Azilect for about 5 days before my symptoms became terrible again. I had to do this for assessment, I know just how bad it can be without the meds. I know everyone is different, but at this point I am functional because of the right combination of medications. Various meds have been prescribed over the years, if I could not tell that it made a difference, I made the choice with my Dr. of not continuing it. Everyone is individualistic in their response to medication.

[JohnPepper]

Hi Macelot. As I have told many others,"stop taking medication if it is not doing anything positive for you". It sounds as if your husband's medication was possibly doing something for him. To find out about this, let me ask you, did he have to take a larger quantity of those medications over those years? If he did not, then I would question whether they were doing anything at all for him. The other statement I regularly make is, "Pd medication does nothing to slow down the progression of Pd. So whether you take it or not, it will not alter the rate of progression of the Pd." You may like to look at my website, reversparkinsons.net and read more about medication and other ways of dealing with symptoms. Say "Well done!" to your husband.

John