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Certain medications block dopamine activity in the brain. If you don’t have Parkinson’s, they may cause Medication Induced Parkinsonism (also called “drug-induced parkinsonism”). If you have Parkinson’s disease, they can worsen your symptoms. In this condition, Levodopa is not very useful. This is because the sites where levodopa normally attaches are blocked by these nefarious … Read more
(Brand names in India: Syncapone, Entacom plus) How do Entacapone & Tolcapone act? Entcapone is a friend of levodopa. It prevents the breakdown of levodopa by inhibiting an enzyme called COMT. The name of the enzyme is not important, what is important is that entacapone protects levodopa. Therefore, it makes the levodopa stay longer in the … Read more
(Brand names: Sinemet, Syndopa, Syndopa plus, Syndopa CR, Tidomet etc) Levodopa is the MOST POWERFUL, POSSIBLY BEST medication for Parkinson’s disease. If Parkinson’s was a jungle, Levodopa would be an Elephant. It is the Optimus Prime of Transformers, the Mount Everest of mountains… I could go on… How does levodopa work? In a very simple … Read more
(Brand names in India: Pramipex, Pramipex ER, Ropark, Ropark XL) How do dopamine agonists work? These chemicals are imitators. They look just like Dopamine itself. They attach themselves to the same sites that Dopamine usually attaches itself. Therefore, they produce similar effects in the brain as Dopamine and relieve the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Use/Advantages: … Read more
(Brand names in India: Amantrel, Parkitidin) How does Amantadine act? Amantadine is a another friend of levodopa (remember: its other friend is entacapone). While it can decrease the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, it works best when it is given to support the action of levodopa. While Entacapone can sometimes increase the side-effects of levodopa, Amantadine … Read more
Remember: Levodopa’s best friends are: Entacapone & Amantadine. The medications discussed here (the MAO-B inhibitors) are also supposedly “friends of levodopa/dopamine”. Except, two of them, like the older brothers Karamazov, these medications are somewhat useful but full of flaws. These medications probably belong to an older generation. I use them very sparingly, if at all. … Read more
India Today Magazine - 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
Outlook India Magazine - 2021, 2023
Ex-Assistant Professor, University of Alabama, USA
