Paying the price for a good meal.

[Bailey_Texas]

For me it is not just the time between meds and meals it is how much i eat and what i eat. I ate at El Fenix today (100 year old Tex-Mex restaurant I have been going there for 50 years). I ate

2 enchiladas, some refried beans, some rice , 2 pats of butter and had a glass of Dr Pepper Cola. We were done with our meals at 11:45 i took my meds at 9:00am and at 1:00 pm. I started crashing at 12 noon. I took 2 additional 25/100 c/l at 1:30 pm and 2 more at 3:00 pm. I was in misery , my legs hurt so bad i cried, my legs were weak, my hands were stiff and painful i was depressed i cried like a baby. I did not get any relief until 4:00 pm. I felt good at 4:30 pm and took my meds at 5:00 pm. It is 7:30 pm and i feel great. This has happened at least 10 times over the last 5 months. I know it can and will happen but i had not had a good cooked meal in 2 or three weeks. My wife is a great cook but she does not cook big meals anymore because she knows i will most likely overeat . I just call it paying the price of a good meal. It is worth it at times but today i learned my lesson.

Thanks for listening.

[racerCP]

Bailey,

Thanks for sharing your experience and the lesson.

I am just in the process of discovery of when to medicate and how to support the regime. I see that eating a meal too close to meds defeats the purpose of taking the medication. I will try to apply more restraint and thought to when I eat and how much. Take good care of yourself and keep educating us.

[tellme]

Dear Bailey,

I understand so well what you experienced, because I have exactly the same problem. The digestion process completely negates the efficacy of ldopa. I must also eat in small amounts to avoid these terrible crises !

"When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on!". - Thomas Jefferson

[wifeofparky]

Beans and enchiladas are high protein foods. You ate a lot of protein at one time and protein competes with dopamine for absorption in the gut. Your second dose was less than two hours after your meal so you still had food in your stomach. Try timing your meals so you take your Sinemet one hour before you eat so it gets better absorbed, eat smaller amounts at your meals and wait a minimum of two hours if you can after you eat. Try eating slower and chew your food well so it digests easier and more quickly. If you chew your food more, your stomach does not have to work as hard and it moves faster out of the stomach. You don't have to stop eating, just be more mindful when and how you eat.