My husband reported to his neurologist at his annual appointment that his worst symptom was not being able to talk/throat congestion. The neurologist said this is from too much sinemet, so the doc lowered his dosage from 1 1/2 pills of 25/100 twice a day and 1 pill once a day to 1 pill three times a day. My husband has not noticed any difference in his throat problems, but other symptoms are worse (which the doctor predicted would happen). My suggestion to my husband is to start taking mucuna pruriens to supplement his lower dose of sinemet instead of increasing the sinemet dosage. Does anyone have a suggested dosage of mucuna pruriens to supplement 1 pill of sinemet 25/100 three times a day, in hopes of increasing mucuna pruriens gradually while decreasing sinemet? My husband has also been taking Dr. Costantini's B1 therapy, two B1 in the morning and one at lunch, for a few months, has not seemed to make much difference.
Mucuna Pruriens dosage: My husband reported... - Cure Parkinson's
Mucuna Pruriens dosage
Impaired speech and swallowing occurs in nearly all PWP in the absence of levodopa.
There are several dozen thorough discussions of Mucuna Pruriens here, so if your husband is going to take both Sinemet and MP, you should put it in the search window and read many of the discussions.
In brief, because of wide variations in the quality of MP because of where it's grown, the manufacturing process, and whether your husband has 15% or 40% or whatever, determining the dose of levodopa is near impossible. Because of this, a lot of PWP feel you shouldn't take both at the same time. Those who are okay with taking both at the same time, feel the only or best way to judge whether the dose is right is based on how they feel.
Agree with MBA that combining Mucuna with SInimet is very tricky and best avoided. I find speech is more problematic when stressed so techniques for reducing stress could work
Levodopa is levodopa whether from Sinemet or MP. So it doesn’t seem to make sense taking less of one source to replace it with another. I’d go back to the neurologist.
Mucuna does not cause the side effects that sinemet does, such as the speech problems the neurologist spoke of, but the neurologist does not want to discuss mucuna because it is not regulated.
Hi - I don't understand how Sinemet can cause problems when MP can't. It's about levodopa. Sorry to cut and paste, but here's something I wrote on a previous thread:
1. Whether made by nature or in a lab, levodopa is chemically exactly the same. If you purify it from both sources you can't tell the difference.
2. Carbidopa in Sinemet delays the breakdown of levodopa in the brain, meaning you need to take less - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbi...
3. Carbidopa doesn't cause dyskinesia, as far as I'm aware. Here's more - medium.com/parkinsons-uk/tr...
4. Here's more about MP in Parkinson's - medium.com/parkinsons-uk/co...
5. When you take Sinemet, you can be pretty sure you get what's on the label plus or minus a few percent. The levodopa content of MP preparations is variable - liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
6. Levodopa in MP would appear not to be as stable as in Sinemet, with degradation to potentially damaging chemicals - nature.com/articles/srep11078
7. Management of Parkinson's by both us and our neurologists needs a very good handle on how much levodopa we're actually taking. For me, that needs a pure form of levodopa so we know how much I'm taking, and when to increase it (and by how much) as my condition declines. That's why it's Sinemet for me over MP any day.
I thought 100g L-DOPA 100% PURE Levodopa Mucuna Pruriens is natural. where as CARB/LEVO 25-250 is not.
I don’t take MP due to strength uncertainty, but rather stick with madapor.
He may want to try mannitol and/or NAC. The B1 does not work for everyone but I think it needs to be tried for some time with Jeeves reporting improvement after 12 months.
I think also he needs to excercise his throat muscles. There are some special PD programs but I just belt out songs in the car . Only when alone😲!
Perhaps incidentally, my husband was having lots of congestion, especially in the morning. I started him on Claritin which helped him greatly.
There must be some allergy that we did not realize but it’s obvious before and after his daily non-sedating anti-histamine.
Even excess saliva on his lips went away. May be worth a try.
Good luck and Happy Thanksgiving!
My husband has speech problems mostly with getting air out. He only takes Sinemet at night so he seems to have more problems the next eve with speech and tremors, tho not too bad, and leg stiffness.....also has fatigue. He gets to sleep easily but often doesn't stay asleep but I may try a non sleepy allergy med to see if that helps congestion.....he really sounds wheezy...so it may help speech too. He stopped Resigiline due to falls that may have been high pressure from it. No falls since. M.A. in USA
No benefit at three months on HDT is usually an indication that your husband is a non-responder to HDT or the dose is too low. What did Dr. Costantini have to say about it?
Art
We tried the higher dose that Dr. C usually prescribes but hubby did not feel well, so we followed Dr. C's instructions and stayed off thiamine for week, then he started thiamine again at 1500/day (2 at breakfast and 1 at lunch). That is where he is now, I have not contacted Dr. C again. Maybe I should but I feel like I am being a bit of a pest.
Oh, that is a little different because your husband not feeling well, although in the negative, does tend to indicate that he responds to HDT and rather quickly suggesting a lower dose is indicated which is what Dr. C has done.
On the contrary this idea of feeling like a pest, is in the patient, not in Dr. C! He is essentially blind without your feedback and he wants the feedback in order to help you get the dose just right. Feedback is good and useful and just what you should do! Since you didn't say exactly how much time has gone by at the lowered dose, I would say to write him soon and explain exactly where you are and what is going on. Even to say that nothing is going on or no change is feedback that he can use and respond to.
Art
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