Co-Careledopa - what does science say - when to start taking

[Nb11]

Hello,

I was diagnosed Macrh '22.

My doctor prescribed me 12.5mg / 50mg, two tablets to be taken three times per day.

I feel fine just taking 1 tablet per day, two if I have a stressful day at work. Though I can imagine stepping up to two per day soon.

I recently saw my Doctor. He recommended, again, taking 2 x 3 per day. His logic was there was some research saying better to start taking a higher dose of Co-Careldopa sooner. Though there was nothing definitive.

Does the group know if the consensus, is to start taking as soon as diagnosed.

Is the dosage my Doctor is suggesting high?

[Tribselyov]

There is no good science that supports taking dopamine alters or decreases progression of PD. There is no mandate to early treatment. Treatment is for symptom control. Caution: don’t overtreat. Don’t seek perfection.

[park_bear in reply to Tribselyov]

Agree, and for a patient doing fine just taking 1 tablet per day, a doctor recommending taking 2 x 3 per day is nuts - likely to be way overdosed. I recommend finding another doctor.

[CuriousMe12 in reply to Tribselyov]

My neurologist has pushed me to take since diagnosis 6 year ago when symptoms were mild. Ì think many just have a general approach to medicating everyone on a pathway from the start.Ì resisted for 5 year working on my own interventions. Ì now take 1 or 2 12.5mg when particularly active. I'd do the same again but it depends on how progressed you are and how much the current symptoms affect you; how much you want to risk side effects of meds, esp as they up the dosage. Do you want to try other interventions without being clouded by meds...

But stretch and exercise esp if you don't medicate.

But it's your choiçe.

[Divii]

When it comes to levodopa, less is more

[Karmaone]

I'm on 1x 12.5/50 three times a day and 2x slow release. I've had two neurologists say I'm on a low dose, then when I visited a Parkinson's nurse she said because my symptoms are mild I'm taking too much medication.

I asked my consultant neurologist about this and he said it depends on a lot of factors, such as age and activity level. I'm pretty young, work full time, study, have young kids, and a dog. He said the Parkinson's nurse is accustomed to treating people a lot less active than me.

I'm sharing this to say there's no easy answer and it will depend a lot on your circumstances and pd progression. I was against medication, but now I'm trying to balance this with being able to do the the things I want to do in life. Neurologists do seem to be 'generous' with their prescriptions, and you don't have to take as much as they give you, experiment, see how you feel, try different things, and yes exercise and stretching is undoubtedly good.

[Divii in reply to Karmaone]

well said

[park_bear in reply to Karmaone]

If your symptoms are under good control and you are not suffering adverse effects from the medication you are taking an appropriate dosage.

[Allyn]

Doctors start EVERYONE - male, female, old, young, large, small - on that Same dose! That should tell you something - like it is not individualized - even though Parkinson's is very individualized!

[Esperanto in reply to Allyn]

Hopefully, the doctors are doing their best, but they cannot possibly give adequate medication once every 6 months. You will have to do this yourself by constantly, hour to hour, listen carefully to your body and respond to changed situations with dynamic dosage. The goal should not be to avoid C/L medication, but to take full advantage of it.

[Dabaa]

I was taken aback last week to hear my Neuro concede that pressure from Big Pharma is a factor in C/L prescription. An honest doc - whodathunkit?