drug related constipation, sinamet

[Astrojupiter]

does anyone know why sinamet causes constipation. Does it go away with time?

[wifeofparky]

Constipation is an early symptom of PD. Make sure you are staying hydrated and eating enough fiber to keep the stools soft and moving. PD slows down everything including the GI tract.

[Astrojupiter in reply to wifeofparky]

Yes I suppose I should be more clear. She has only been constipated once in her life when treated for diarrhea with Rx medication. Her stools are very soft and about 5 stools a day. Her stools do not look firm in the toilet. Within a week of Sinamet she is constipated and can not go at all and continually going from one bathroom to another sometimes complaining she can go. I did a rectal and these is firm stool in the vault.

She has dementia

Constipation is listed as a side effect, and the situation certainly looks that way.

[wifeofparky in reply to Astrojupiter]

call her doctor

[park_bear]

Remedies: healthunlocked.com/cure-par...

[simonasays]

Gastroparesis is an autonomic function that becomes affected with parkinson's

[ssrs]

My husband is on Sinemet and he makes sure to to take a diatomaceous earth pill each day to stay regular. If that doesn’t work then he eats a prune or drinks prune juice. So far this seems to be working for him.

[paulalex1313]

Two Ducosate twice a day plus one or to Laxido drinks does help.

[rleedc]

one prune a day works for me

[BriMeister]

It's the Parkinson's , try mestinon 60 mg 3 x daily

[Parkinsunny]

i was very constipated UNTIL I was put on CL.

[sgantiques52]

There is a treatment suggested by a Dr Wright and his group and by a Dr Fahey. This has to do with consuming some broccoli for its sulforaphane but broccoli sprouts, either eaten or in the form of tea for a number of PD symptoms. I can assure you it is effective for urinary issues but some report it also aids with constipation. There is very little problematic side effects (except some gas in this case) but it has many benefits. If you want more information I can add more but it is worth looking into. I make the broccoli tea for several people with PD and just the energy it provides is reason enough to try it.

[wriga in reply to sgantiques52]

Hello sgantiques52,I don't recognise you by your pseudonym, but thanks for your confidence... and you're right, constipation and daytime urinary urgency are Parkinson's symptoms on an equal footing with brain fog and fatigue.

I'm the person behind the sulforaphane and broccoli seed tea research on PD. Our group has been working quietly on this subject for the last year and we will soon be going public about it. "We" refers to the founding members of a new Nonprofit Corporation that we set up earlier this year to gather and share information, and to raise funds for more research on subjects such as "How and why does sulforaphane attenuate the 4 symptoms listed above at the same time? What's the connection? What does it teach us about PD?

These are all so-called "Non-motor symptoms". That's the label on the bin into which the medical profession dumps and then ignores, everything which doesn't fit the brain/movement disorder model for PD. It is also the reason why no progress has been made in PD research in decades. That bin is full of information about what causes PD. Two of those symptoms aren't located in the brain. The other 2 are located in the brain but aren't related to movement (or neurons). And they all show up years before motor symptoms. So we have been using sulforaphane from broccoli seeds as an analytical tool to learn more about these symptoms and about PD. We believe that what we are discovering will turn our (and your) perspective of PD literally upside down, especially when we give non-motor symptoms a new name that unites them via a common cause. That will not please those with vested interests in the current brain-centric description of PD, but we think it will make a lot of sense to you.

We look forward to welcoming you to this new Nonprofit Corporation, run entirely by PwPs, very soon.

Our message will be:

"Sharing knowledge that comes from our lived experience ... to transform Parkinson’s".

See you soon.

Wriga

ps. I won't be replying to questions in this thread, but we will be making an announcement on HU when the time is tight.

[LAJ12345]

My husband had never had constipation before and was ok on a low dose of madopar, but when he had his meds increased then changed to the slow release madopar he became terribly constipated as well as have lots of other side effects like insomnia and agitation every evening. He went back to the 50/12.5 madopar tablet and all those symptoms went away. So it is the medication not the PD for him at least.

[Astrojupiter]

ok I found something about a possible mechanism.

”Scientists found a species of bacteria living in the small intestine, called Clostridium sporogenes, that is able to convert a fraction of unabsorbed levodopa — a medication commonly used to treat Parkinson’s disease — into a chemical that lowers gastrointestinal mobility.”

“According to El Aidy, the fact that a patient’s own gut bacteria can metabolize levodopa into a substance that potentially worsens constipation, one of the most common gastrointestinal symptoms associated with the disease, is unfortunate.

“However, now that we know this, it is possible to look for inhibitors of the enzymes in the deamination pathway identified in our study,” she said.”

From parkinsonsnewstoday.com/new...

Thank you all for your suggestions