Quandary!

[st8farm]

After 5 years, my new pharmacist tells me that the Sinemet I take for my Parkinson's, destroys the effectiveness of my Metformin that I take for my type 2 diabetes (A1C 7.7) and now they want to double my Sinemet to work on my right hand tremor that is the only visible vestige of the Parkinson's. I can live with the tremor. What would you do? I don't know which to fear the most.

[parkylot]

Not a fan of c/l. I take it in small doses. Live with the tremor. To much puts me to sleep. Alternately do strenuous cardio.

[park_bear]

I searched for interactions between Sinemet and metformin. Here is the only thing I could find: go.drugbank.com/drugs/DB00190 "Metformin - Carbidopa may decrease the excretion rate of Metformin which could result in a higher serum level." [Emphases added]

This paper: Drug Interactions of Metformin Involving Drug Transporter Proteins ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl... did not list any interactions. Nor did drugs.com which has a good interactions database.

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As to increasing your Sinemet - I am a fan of Sinemet/carbidopa-levodopa. That said, when it comes to alleviating Parkinson's symptoms, it is foolish to expect perfection because that will never happen. As I understand it, you regard your symptom relief as adequate and tremor is not bothering you enough to need intervention. There is a word that comes to my mind in response to the notion of doubling(!) your Sinemet under this circumstance, and that word is – crazy.

[JohnPepper]

No Pd medication does anything to slow down or stop the progression of Pd. I went the exercise route in 1992, when I was diagnosed and since 2002 I have been Pd medication-free and at 86 I am still able to walk 6 kilometres in an hour. Contact me at [e-mail] and I will send you my videos and lots of valuable information, completely free of charge.