Sinemet Slow-release Hard Candy

[DeanGreen]

Has anyone tried making a home-made slow-release levodopa lozenge or hard candy that you can suck on and have constant levels of dopamine in your system?

[laglag]

They have ODT (orally dissolving tablets). They hit your system faster.

[johntPM]

Excellent idea. I'll be interested in the results.

You may like to use the app below to measure your side to side tapping speed, both with the lozenge and without.

parkinsonsmeasurement.org/t...

You could get fancy and do a double blind test!

[DeanGreen in reply to johntPM]

Great idea! Thanks! I use a metric which I developed by measuring how many times I can rotate a tennis ball in 30 sec. When I'm fully "on" its 20 rotations per min (rpms). When I'm "off" it's 0 - 2 rpms. I have used it to measure my "on" and "off" times as well as how my PD has progressed over the years.

[Lotsopasta]

Losenges and hard candies can be a choke hazard for many PWP

[LAJ12345]

Why not put it in a sipper bottle and dissolve it? Not sure if that’s feasible or not. Might taste disgusting! Or if it would go off. I’m sure I saw someone a while back saying they did that and dissolved I think vitamin c with it?? Does anyone remember?

[johntPM in reply to LAJ12345]

I've mentioned dissolving levodopa in vitamin C in the past. But the effect of this is to speed up the absorption rate. Sometimes this is what is desired. However, as I understand it, the lozenge approach is more likely to be used in cases where a slow, more constant absorption rate is required.

[LAJ12345 in reply to johntPM]

Does it go off? It seems it could be used to slow down the dose if it is just sipped over the whole day ?

[johntPM in reply to LAJ12345]

See the following for the formula:parkinson.org/sites/default...

This gives it a refrigerated shelf life of 24-48 hours.

Yes, while the pharmacokinetic term TMAX, the time to maximum concentration for a single dose of the liquid form, is shortened compared with the normal pill form, the frequent sipping approach would appear to slow down the absorption. The constraint then would be the rate of gastric emptying.

There must be dozens of ways such as this which would improve the efficacy of levodopa; some of which work best for me, and some that work best for you. The moral of the story, as far as I see it, is that we should concentrate our research on getting every PwP their optimal regimen with existing drugs now; rather than hope that new drugs will deliver substantial gains in 5, 10 or 20 years time.

[LAJ12345 in reply to johntPM]

Thanks. Can you please tell me what page the formula is on?

[johntPM in reply to LAJ12345]

Their page 54, Appendix A, Formula for Liquid Sinemet.

[shelly9]

I use the Duodopa pump for a consistent flow of levadopa with an extra dose button when the need increases for various changes in diet or mood.

[DeanGreen in reply to shelly9]

How's that working for you? How long does the pump last? How do you set the flow rate rate? Does insurance cover it?

[shelly9 in reply to DeanGreen]

Pump is working well for me. I was popping sinemet every 2 hours. Tried Rytary but was difficult to get right dosage.The pump can last 2-3 years and then might need to replaced. You set the flow rate with help from the vendor and your doctor. They have enough experience to guide. There is an extra dose button if you require more. My insurance covers most of it. It is not cheap.