Duodopa

[Bionicmatt]

I am curious to find out what everyone's thoughts are on Duodopa ..the intestinal gel

[johntPM]

As I understand it, Duodopa is basically levodopa/carbidopa, the same as Sinemet. The difference, is that whereas Sinemet is taken by mouth, Duodopa is pumped into the upper intestine. This has the advantages of making the dose more reliable (no need to worry about gastric emptying) and continuous, allowing the dose to be higher, without causing dyskinesia.

It is also much, much more expensive.

I suggest that people get operated on to take the Duodopa pump only after they have had their normal drug regimen optimised and that this has failed to give a reasonable QOL. There is much that you can do with the standard drugs by changing the frequency and size of your doses.

John

[Bionicmatt in reply to johntPM]

Thanks John !