[Dysphagia] Sinemet

[Drirenect at aol.com (Drirenect@aol.com)]

It's not quite true that Sinemet will have no effect. The problem arises  
from the fact that gastroparesis is endemic to PD and the Sinemet eventually  
takes too long to pass into the duodenum.  If it doesn't reach the  duodenum, it 
can't cross the blood brain barrier and it is often wrongly assumed  that 
either the medication is having no effect or the patient has reached end  stage.  
One of the ways of checking is to do a blood assay to see how much  is getting 
into the blood stream and, if not enough, increasing the dose. There  is a 
great deal of literature on this and I am surpised that a neurologist is  not 
aware of it. There are various mixtures that PD patients have themselves  
concocted to overcome this problem the most notable a liquid form of Sinemet  that 
reaches the duodenum faster. If anyone is interested, I can send the  "recipe".