This is a response to the post "Liquefy your L-dopa" (about dissolving levodopa in ascorbic acid and water). I'm starting a new thread here because it's been 8 months since that original post. The author of that post does meticulous internet research and communicates it so very well to all of us here on this forum. He is greatly appreciated. With that said (and I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer), I think a couple of precautions on the subject should be noted.
Today, I thought I was all set to try the method of liquefying levodopa by mixing it with ascorbic acid and water. Then, I googled 'ascorbic acid toxicity' and read some things that were of concern. I take C/L every 2.5 hours, so with the liquefying method, I'd also be ingesting ascorbic acid every 2.5 hours. One article (toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/... said that for individuals predisposed to renal stones, chronic administration of high doses of ascorbic acid may lead to stone formation. I don't know what's considered a high dose, but my brother and sister have both had kidney stones (excruciatingly painful they said), so this might not be a good idea for people like me.
Another point of concern: it seems that ascorbic acid increases the absorption of dietary iron (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/694.... PwP store excess iron in their brains, and this is thought to cause toxic oxidative stress (sciencedaily.com/releases/2.... I wonder if the amount of ascorbic acid ingested several times a day everyday with liquefied levodopa would be enough to increase the store of iron in the brain, or would it take much larger amounts.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
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That thread you mentioned did get me to start chewing up my sinemet before I swallowed it. I think it helps with absorption. May as well get the digestive process started as soon as possible. Fortunately Sinemet has no flavor and it's just chalky.
There you go Enidah, it has the flavour of chalk, lol. I remember buying these very cheap sweets, as a kid, sharing them out to the "gang" and one lad, spitting the offending morsel out on the ground saying, "Errr, yuck, that tastes like chalk!" (But then again how would a kid know?)
Absorbic acid is Vitamin C, correct? There is 124 mg of Vit C in a cup of orange juice. I'm not sure how much absorbic acid you were supposed to mix with water & the C/L? I did some research on Google and found the recommended amount of Vit C per day is 65 to 90 mg. and the maximum amount of Vit. C you should take is 1,000 mg a day and more than that could cause kidney stones, mostly in men. No link to stones was found for foods high in vitamin C. The caution applies only to vitamin C supplements and not to vitamin C found in foods. So, I believe orange juice would be considered a food rather than a supplement?
FYI: I take C/L ODT which is an Oral Dissolving Tablet that dissolves on my tongue, it has a minty flavor.
First of all, the amount of vitamin C that is recommended for a dose of levodopa is 200 mg.
If traditional ascorbic acid causes stomach upset you should try EsterC. EsterC was tested against ascorbic acid and was found to be easier on the stomach. Also, it comes in a dissolve-able/effervescent form which could be easily dissolved with levodopa:
Safety and tolerance of Ester-C® compared with regular ascorbic acid
Secondly, vitamin C has been taken in gigantic doses for many diseases including AIDS. The following article states HIV+ patients were treated with 50-200 grams per 24 hours. That is equal to 50,000 - 200,000 mg per day.
I find myself reading articles that have obviously involved a lot of time and effort on the part of the writer. Thank you so much - perhaps, our Neuro's might consider doing similar trends. (Psst - if they were punctual).
I started recently dissolving 25/100 C/L into water and carrot/apple juice or lemon juice. I use small amounts and apparently it contains enough vitamin C to prevent oxidation and guarantee absorption. I even add some mucuna in there for an added boost. It’s like Duopa without the surgery, though I carry a flask around.
What I am trying to figure out now is the minimum ‘swig’ I need to drink to make sure the carbidopa is effective enough to get the l-dopa absorbed. 3 ‘swigs’ is approx 50 ml of liquid containing about 150mg l-dopa.
Naturally, I am always looking for the next thing to out-maneuver the clever fox, so any questions/suggestions are welcome.
I still liquefy my L-dopa and it still works despite some timing issues with meals etc. The uptake is pretty rapid and I keep it in a little bit a lemon juice in marked bottle. Sometimes are used C/L tabs And sometimes I weigh l-dopa and mix it with straight carbidopa.
This allowed me originally to experiment with c/L ratios And it allows me to control my sleep better. I generally wake up once per night to take a drink and then 15 minutes later I am back. I kind of compared to Dudopa pump - but without the hole in my stomach.
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