I hope u dont mind me hijacking your thread but mh question is similiar. I was diagnosed in summer and have been offered meds but have so far refused. I am doing lots of alternative things but am confused as ive had conflicting advice from neuro and pd nurse. Neuro gavd me impression that the longer i hold off meds the longer it shd be til the side effects become unmanagable but the nurse implied startinv soon might slow down my deterioration. I am managing quite well without meds but having said that i havd had to go from full to part time as full time was too much for me with a young family too.

I know everyond is different but can anuone advise me who is right the neuro of nurse?

Also i havd been offered levodopa of dopamine agonists with no recommendations. Its completely up to me. I have researched and the side effects of both seem scary. Is there another option with less side effects? I am 36 and my main symptoms are stiffness, frozen shoulder, tremor and tiredness. Im also slowing down a lot.

Many thanks.

I get the impression that expert opinion is quite divided on this question. When I was diagnosed nine years ago, most people seemed to favour putting off medication for as long as you could, on the argument that it would enable you to be that much older before the medication stopped being effective and the side effects too troublesome. But now some seem to argue that it is better to keep on top of PD, and not allow symptoms to take hold.
If you want to keep working I suspect that you will want to start on medication in the next few years. I could possibly have gone about four years after diagnosis without medication if I hadn't been working and driving, relying on exercise and relaxation like yoga to help me maintain a decent level of activity. But with the desire to keep both work and driving going, I started on ropinirole after about two years.

I am curious about these serious side effects you fear, Trees , from Levodopa?
Generally the dopamine agonists are worst for side effects, whereas levodopa drugs, like Madopar and Sinemet are very well tolerated.Nausea, the most common side effecct, is for some, but certainly not all, initially a nuisance, until the body gets used to the drug.
In my case too, the advice was,once diagnosed, stay off the drugs as long as you can, that was in 1999. The last 5 years the majority of neurologists, however, have started to initiate drug treatment soon after diagnosis, guided by the latest statistics in research. It still depends, of course, on the severity of symptoms.The advice, once you start on drug treatment, of "go low, go slow" still stands and should be heeded. Some neurologists could prescribe a little less sometimes. There are interesting papers to read about early versus late start of treatment on the internet. Have a look on www.medscape.com or www.uspharmacist.com

You can die of Parkinson's indirectly of course. Or (at least) it often is a contributory factor.

Can anyone tell me how long it takes for some improvemant to be felt once pills are begun? I finally started them 6 days ago and seem, if anything, to have grown even weaker and more incapacitated! Madopar 50mg/12.5

My husband started on Azilect tablets three months ago.He has had no effects,good or bad.He was advised to keep off the other meds for as long as he can.

If you have PD, it is wise to get a pneumonia jab. PD tends to increase the chances of catching it.

I had mine last week.

Peter.

My husband refuses to have the flu jab so he wont have it