selegiline

[Eileen9]

My doctor prescribed selegiline for me to lesson the amount of freezing I do while trying to walk. Has anyone had any experience with this drug?

[JohnPepper]

Hi Eileen. I took Selegiline for 8 years before I was in the position to stop taking it and any other Pd medication. That was in 2002. Since then I have been able to live a 'normal' life and am now 80 years of age.

I wrote a book about my Pd and what I did to achieve this. the book is titled, 'Reverse Parkinson's Disease'.

In a nutshell, I started doing fast walking for 1 hour, 3 times a week, but started at 20 minutes and built it up over 5 months to the 1 hour level. I got rid of all harmful stress out of my life, including giving up my high-powered job. I adopted a positive attitude towards my Pd and it has paid off. I also do a lot of brain exercises, which keep my brain very active.

To learn more about how I went about doing all this and lots of other interesting things about Pd you can go to my website - reverseparkinsons.net.

Good luck

John

[Pete-1]

Been taking Selegiline for some years, This is one of a few or perhaps the only drug that claims to slow the progression of PD.

I think Selegiline is of the genre MAO-B. The MAO destroys Dopamine once it has been used thereby maintains Dopamine for a while ready for re-uptake and re-use. In a healthy brain I assume that without the MAO destroying Dopamine there would be a risk of Dopamine overdose. So the Selegiline destroys the Dopamine destroyers.

[Gaz1403 in reply to Pete-1]

Pete-1

Sorry to doubt your obviously extensive knowledge of Parky's meds, but I was under the impression that Azilect also slows the progression of the disease.

I was originally prescribed it about 7 or 8 years ago and it seemed to halt my Parky's advance to such an extent that no-one could tell I was a PWP - I was playing football (soccer) a couple of times a week and working on site laying bricks with no probs.

Then, during a bout of depression, I had to come off Azilect because my doctor prescribed me Mirtazapine and he told me that the two were incompatible - and also that Azilect loses it's effect after a few years anyway.

Since coming off it, I have just been taking 1 x Amantadine; 150mg Stalevo 3 hourly (although on some days I have had to reduce the time between doses to 2.75 or even 2.5 hourly) and the occasional 100mg Madopar disposable when I am really "off". Even with all this drug intake I have been experiencing elongated "off" periods with "freezing" being the worst problem - I am almost totally immobile at times! I was unable to work on site due to the risk of falling (when freezing). I am due to undergo DBS in July which I hope will improve things.

Anyway, it recently came to light that Azilect and Mirtazapine ARE compatible.

I told my neuro this and am happy to report I am back on Azilect and have improved no end - I am not experiencing anything like the "off" periods I had been and am back on site laying bricks all day with minimal "off" periods.

Regards,

Gary

[Pete-1 in reply to Gaz1403]

Azilect (Rasagiline) is another variant of the MOA-B type, So its behaviour is likely to be rather similar to Selegiline.

Anyway an an alternative to Selegiline that seems to have been beneficial, great.

[finlander]

Eileen: I was diagnosed with PD in April of 2011. I have been taking Selegiline, twice daily for almost 4 years now, together with Mirapex(3X per day) and standard dose of Sinemet, 25/ 100 ml., 4 times per day. I can't say that I can attribute slower progression or lack of freezing to Selegiline. Could be that it helped for a while together with lots of exercising, good eating happens and early retirement. My problems with freezing actually began 6-8 months ago and continues, despite the Selegiline. I have tried my best to remain physically fit but have had setbacks thanks to undergoing 2 lumbar fusion surgeries (Aug. of 2013 and April of 2014) and having to now struggle with very painful SI Joint dysfunction, severe dystonia, with loss of feeling, and clinching, and pain with each step on my left foot. So, I have had to stop my John Pepper- inspired 4 mile walks, spinning on exercise bike, heavy bag boxing and weight lifting because of frequent re-injury or aggravation of the pain complex in my low back, SI joint, left foot . Sure enough, stopping my exercise has increased the speed of my progression. Symptoms can come on within 2 to 2 1/2 hrs, with a disturbing suddenness. I no longer get to feel "normal" for 4-6 hrs. And it takes the Sinemet an hour or more before it kicks in. Tremors are more pronounced, I am more unsteady and taking that with the onset of freezing, it's all quite depressing. I need to try to somehow snap out of this and quit feeling sorry for myself. In terms of a practical change of strategy,I am wondering if I should switch from Selegiline to Azilect, given the length of time I have taken it. Has anyone ever experienced an improvement in symptoms by such a switch and would it be enough to offset the significant added cost of Azilect?