On my most recent visit to The Parkinson’s Specialist Place, I was given a supply of Crexont, a new formulation of Levodopa. It’s an extended-release formulation, enabling me to take just three doses a day, which kicks the crap out of the six times a day that I’ve been doing for the last few years.

Crexont seemed to work pretty well at first, but it soon became clear that I needed to increase the dosage. I was not surprised by this. Crexont is available in three “strengths”; I had been given a bottle of each strength along with very specific instructions for increasing the dosage. So, I bumped it up a notch. After a week, I was still having significant off periods, which consisted largely of a very unpleasant depression. Eventually, I worked my up to the maximum recommended dosage. Over the last week or so, the off periods have gotten longer, to the point where there is virtually no On Period. This left me facing serious depression almost constantly.

So, I stopped Crexont and went back to the old-school (generic Sinemet) pills. I’m not getting the depression I had with Crexont, but I am back to where I was before this experiment started. That being an off period every three hours consisting of significant anxiety. Fortunately, I can treat that with Lorazepam or a small amount of booze. Or just slacking, but I do way too much of that already.