Does Levodopa occasionally not work for you?

[Pat50]

It doesn’t work at all for me I took for a year C/L 25/100 (6 per day). Hoping for improvement- none now off. No meds have helped

[christine-p]

I have the similar problems, at the beginning, my doctor keeps adding the medication and increase the frequency, from 3 times a day to 4 then 5 times a day. Finally I realizes I need to pay more attention about when to eat and what to eat, but sometimes the medication did not kick in all day long so I just tolerate the situation. I feel sad about this situation, but I also have constipation issues, that doesn’t help.

Christine P.

[Bob]

Keep levodopa away from protein by an hour or two. You may just have a digestive issue. You are not absorbing the meds.( lack of stomach acid as we get older or using antacids) Try 1-2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar in 4 oz of water or juice with your meds. It may also help your constipation.

[sofibrown]

Thank you all for the info. My grandmother was prescribed Levodopa and I am collecting information on how good this medicine is.

[dmcconnaughay]

I agree (based on what our neurologist says plus multiple clinical studies I have read) that you need to avoid high protein meals surrounding taking the C/L. In addition, stressful situations can cause issues with the effectiveness due to adrenaline levels increasing and depleting dopamine levels (which occurs in everyone but the stress reaction is more pronounced with PD). It is a rather complex process that I don’t completely understand by any means (even after reading one paper on it multiple times), but it has helped my wife quite a bit having that knowledge. She now is more likely to take an extra half dose prior to heading into stressful situations and has seen remarkable results.