Controlled Release Carbidopa Levodopa

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[ddmagee1]

Excellent article! Very helpful!! Thanks for sharing!

[Giovi1960]

Hello RoyProp, interesting article, thanks for sharing. I also noticed that Levodopa CR doesn't work for me too well. I take it only at night (IR during the day), but it increases the spasms on my legs and I feel generally restless. When that feeling finally goes away, I sleep about an extra hour than if I were to take IR at night. To be honest I prefer to sleep less than have to go through the very uncomfortable feelings, sometimes pain, that I get from CR!

[aquario in reply to Giovi1960]

Sounds like restless leg. If so, Ropinirole, a dopamine agonist can be very effective in quieting those involuntary leg movements and allowing a more restful, restorative sleep.

[Giovi1960 in reply to aquario]

Thanks for the information, aquario. I am taking apo-selegiline. Would you know if it works like Ropinirole?

[aquario in reply to Giovi1960]

It appears to be a very different medication than selegiline. From Google: Ropinirole (also known as requip)is in a class of medications called dopamine agonists. It works by acting in place of dopamine, a natural substance in the brain that is needed to control movement. is also used to treat restless legs syndrome(RLS). It may improve your sleep by decreasing the urge to move your legs and decreasing uncomfortable/unpleasant feelings in the legs.

I have found it very effective.

[Giovi1960 in reply to aquario]

Thank you very much for your reply. I will talk to my neurologist about taking Ropinirole instead. Best wishes.

[Bailey_Texas in reply to Giovi1960]

Be ware of side effects like sex addiction and gambling i have both

[Giovi1960 in reply to Bailey_Texas]

Thanks for stressing this point. I'm trying to keep my doses as low as possible so as to avoid side effects. But I guess it depends also on the medication, how my body reacts to it no matter how low the dose is? So far I am getting the spasms and last night I woke up screaming so loud my spouse was worried. I think those are side effects?

[Wonky-Bride in reply to Giovi1960]

I have just started on Madopar (Levadopa) and the neurologist suggested I take my 8mg Ropinirole later in the day, to help with sleep. Interestingly, in the information leaflet for Madopar, they clearly state the same addictive side-effects as dopamine agonists. I was surprised.

[PalmSprings]

I had the exact same problem on holiday. I was switched from IR to CR without knowing at first. I did notice that normally my pills are yellow and the new ones were purple. I didn’t think much of that until I realized I wasn’t feeling as good as “normal”. I wasn’t getting much relief after taking the new l/c. I thought that Canada just had a superior product? I finally realized my yellow ones were IR and the purple ones were CR. Perhaps with different dosing the purple ones would work? I haven’t experimented with this yet.

[Giovi1960 in reply to PalmSprings]

I found about that difference by myself too, searching the internet and reading posts on this site. I'm very surprised how little doctors tell their patients about the medications they prescribe. They haven't even mentioned about food interaction to me.