Sinemet or ropinirole or •••••?? ?

[Theyakin]

Diagnosed a few months a go with PD now 47 years old.

Neurologist subscribed ropinirole 2mg going to 6mg. Had to quit after bad headaches and dizzyness so reduced dose slowly to 0.

I was doing 20/30 mins exercise a day and for 2 weeks all was good. But now can hardly do a few mins. Also hand tremor is worse and now i have toe cramps making walking hard.

I had to try something so went back on 2mg ropinirole for the last few days. It made me feel week but feel a bit better now.

Doctor advises 2 sinemet 12.5/50mg

Which is the lesser of 2 evils

So confused.

Thanks

[park_bear]

Ropinirole is a dopamine agonist. These do help some people but could also have severe adverse effects - orthostatic hypotension, which can mean inability to stand without fainting. Your dizzyness is a sign of this and a clear indication you should NOT be taking this drug. Also impulse control disorders such as compulsive sex, gambling, shopping, or eating. In my opinion this class of drug should only be attempted after you are taking as much levodopa as you can handle - and you're not taking any yet. Big Pharma pushes dopamine agonists because they charge a lot more for them than for levodopa.

The controlled release "CR" version of Sinemet is better for most people than the immediate release version which can be prescribed by default.

Also, to take a look at high dose vitamin B1 / thiamine which is discussed elsewhere in this forum.

[Kevin51]

Sign up with Parkinson's UK - they have a lot of good material on their website e.g. for newly diagnosed

parkinsons.org.uk/informati...

Your neurologist will be aiming to help you keep a good quality of life, but it is guess and correct. I would follow their advice (Sinemet) and keep up the exercise - but take advice on that too - there are lots of good links on this site.

[Bailey_Texas]

sinemet is the one i take it has less side effects for me. I took ropinirole for 8 years and i had problems from the get go. I stopped ropininrole and started sinemet my 8 th year and got my life back. I now take 540 25/100 and 180 50/200 ext release and 30 6mg Ropinirole and

180 Gabapentjn monthly. I am in my 12th year.

[gdublu]

my new neurologist, after consulting me, got me off Ropinirole, because of the obsessive/compulsive side effect. i'm on sinemet 100/25s ...8 a day and 200/50 slow release x 2@ night. yes there was slowing down ,but not dramatically. I also have foot cramps and toe curling

[Hil101]

You could also look at fight-parkinsons.org which also has information about the downside of the various medications. Good luck

[honeycombe3]

Hi there, you seem to have a poor start re meds. I am an almost 70 yr old female dxd for 14 yrs. as I was enrolled in a trial testing the respones