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Parkinson Disease (cont.)

Medications

  • Your treatment will include medications (called neuroprotective agents) to “protect” the neurons that make dopamine.

    • Laboratory tests show that the medication selegiline (Eldepryl) gives a neuroprotective effect for dopamine neurons.

    • When you are given selegiline alone in early PD, it is with the hope that the rate of degeneration of dopamine neurons may be slowed.

  • Symptomatic therapy is begun when you have functional disability. The selection of medication depends in part on the nature and cause of the disability.

    • If your disability is due solely to tremor, a medication specific for tremors, such as amantadine (Symadine, Symmetrel), an anticholinergic agent, can be used.

      • This type of medication provides good tremor relief in about 50% of people but does not improve bradykinesia or rigidity.

      • Because tremor may respond to 1 anticholinergic medication and not another, your doctor may try a second anticholinergic if the first is not successful.

      • You will be given these medications starting at a low dose and slowly rising to minimize side effects, which include memory difficulty, confusion, and hallucinations. Side effects involving thinking are relatively common, especially in older people.

    • If your disability is due to bradykinesia, rigidity, decreased dexterity, slow speech, or shuffling gait, you have dopamine-responsive symptoms.

      • You will be given a medication, such as levodopa-carbidopa (Sinemet), that will increase the dopamine in your brain.

      • These medications are started at a low dose, slowly escalated, and adjusted to control symptoms.

      • Most people require this kind of treatment for bradykinesia and rigidity within 1-2 years after diagnosis.



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Parkinson Disease »

Parkinson disease (Parkinson's disease, PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder associated with a loss of dopaminergic nigrostriatal neurons.

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