Changing to Madopar from Stalevo

About Parkinson's and health Treatments and therapies
1

Hello

I am very new to the forum and I am looking for help and advice.

My father has advanced PK and has to have help with all activities. He was on Stalevo three times a day 125mg and co-careldopa at bedtime. He has difficulty in swallowing so was taking the pills with yoghurt. He always crunched the pills which I know you shouldn't do but most of the time he swallowed them. There were a few times the pill drooled out of his mouth if he was having a 'bad' day. He is in a care home and his nurse in conjunction with the PK nurse has changed his medication to dispersible Madopar 4 times a day. He has been on them for 2 weeks now. 

His alert periods are virtually non existent now whereas when he was on Stalevo he was always alert in the mornings and to some extent in the afternoons. He is quite often not swallowing the Madopar and it just drools out of his mouth. Before I speak to the PK nurse, has anyone had experience of changing from Stalevo to Madopar, am I expecting results too quick? Is it that wrong to chew Stalevo tablets? I just want to be able to spend some time with my father when he is alert.

Thank you 

Hennifer

 

 

 

 

2

No experience of this but i would have a urgent talk with you dad's dr and PD nurse.

 

I wish you the best BB x 

3

Thank you Betty blue, will definitely be speaking to his PD nurse.

Hennifer

4

I pray to God (hi im back) this is a wind up!

5

I take Stalevo 75mg four times per day. I also take each day: 1mg rasagiline and 16mg ropinirole. Each contribute to increasing the amount of dopamine in my brain. But, to get an overall picture and to avoid counting apples and oranges it is useful to use a common metric. A rough measure of this is the levodopa equivalent dose. You can find conversion tables on the web. My overall levodopa equivalent daily dose is about 800mg.

From memory, 75mg Stalevo is "worth" approximately 100mg Madopar. I would check that the total daily dose following the change has not been lowered.

I find dissolving Stalevo in orange juice is effective for me.

John