COMTAN - Parkinson's Disease Message Board

JOHNS · 11-14-2000, 05:53 PM

My neuro. addd comtan to my mesd. I will take with the sina,et . Wkat can I expect ?any side effects?

thanks

john

Bruce · 11-14-2000, 07:23 PM

John, my PD doctor added Comtan and Amantadine to my meds. a few months ago. Comtan works by inhibiting the breakdown of Sinemet. So the effect is similar to increasing the dose of Sinemet. what it did to me was , because I take high doses of Sinemet, is it increased the dyskinesia. The way to lower the dyskinesia is either lower the dose of Sinemet or increase the time between doses. I have never been able to take a lower dose of Sinemet without it increasimg the off time. Increasing the time betweeen doses does help the problem.Comtan did increase my on time. Bruce

Pelicangirl · 11-15-2000, 12:08 AM

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[This message has been edited by Pelicangirl (edited 01-12-2001).]

Carole · 11-15-2000, 01:03 AM

I have been taking Comtan for about 6 months and it works with my sinemet CR perfectly. It is a post surgical fix, but I'm still on half the meds I was on pre-surgery. Prior to that I took Tasmar and it took MY insistence to get to try the Comtan! I was worried about my liver, because even though the Tasmar worked wonderfully well, I sometimes had some irregular liver readings; thus another blood test!

The only thing I miss about the Tasmar blood tests is the sweet tech who took my blood. She said I was the only one coming in for the free tests. They had a different receptionist each time I went (and they never knew what to do with me!), but she was always there for the rescue. She saw me thru my DBS surgery, bald head and all, and I saw her through a pregnancy and got to see pictures of her two beautiful children later! When I changed to Comtan, I just didn't get to go see her anymore. Hope she doesn't think I've gone on to the great beyond (her only other Tasmar person did, but she was much older than I!) I had to go out of my way to go to the "free" lab, so I never have a chance to see her anymore.

Carole

JOHNS · 11-15-2000, 07:21 AM

Thnk you Bruce ,Pelicangirl , and Carole. I took my first two comtan and noticed that my stomach was upset. took with crackers the secolnd dose. I felt much better. Thanks for the heads up on the urine color. I would have worried about the bright orange. Thanks for the help.