How to Save Money on Common Parkinson’s Medication

common parkinsons medications

Some things are tough to watch. When it comes to Parkinson’s disease most people who were already in adulthood 30-some years ago will agree that it was especially tough watching the great Muhammad Ali become debilitated by Parkinson’s disease the way he did. This man was the greatest boxer to ever live and seeing him affected by the disease made clear just how awful a condition it is. The medical community is making every effort it can to advance research into this disease, and in the here and now the good news is common Parkinson’s medications are effective for treatment.

Motion is essential to human life, and the ability to move freely is of the utmost importance right from the moment we stand on two feet. This is what makes Parkinson’s such a huge problem for those who develop it, as it takes that freedom of movement away. It also puts a real focus on how important it is to be able to use our hands and fingers with strength and dexterity. We all tend to take the ability to do these things for granted, but when tying your shoelaces becomes an exercise in futility the seriousness of this disease really hits home.

But again, there’s been major advances in Parkinson’s disease research over the years and a lot of resources are being put into it. One of the most promising developments in recent years has been discovering how a synthetic thyroid hormone may have treatment potential for Parkinson’s disease, and just in March of this year there were similar breakthroughs that will help aid with even earlier diagnosis of Parkinson’s that may improve treatment results.

While all of this will sound great, the average person who has the misfortune of having to deal with Parkinson’s will have a more pressing concern – most common medications for Parkinson’s disease are way too expensive for those who don’t have any type of extended health coverage with their insurance, and fewer of these medications are covered under Medicare Part D in the USA.

Ordering medication online from Canada is a way to make drugs more affordable, and this can apply to these drugs too. We’re going to discuss common Parkinson’s medications here, and hopefully make you aware of which ones might be the best fit for a person depending on their symptoms and severity of them.

Double Up on Dopamine

To date most of the popular common Parkinson’s medication have been formulated around working within carbidopa / levodopa therapy. At the root of the constant tremors that Parkinson’s sufferers have is the fact that neurons in the brain that make dopamine are damaged, and this severe deficiency in dopamine causes the motor dysfunction symptoms of Parkinson’s. Carbidopa / levodopa therapy involves either

Levodopa crossing the blood-brain barrier to make more dopamine unnaturally and make up for the deficiency of it, or
Carbidopa preventing levodopa from being converted into the bloodstream, which promotes more of it being available to brain

While it may sound like these two would work at cross purposes, they do work well in conjunction with each other and Sinemet is a good example of a common Parkinson’s medication that is effective with its delivery of Levodopa and Carbidopa. Azilect is a good example of another one that is often used to complement levodopa / carbidopa therapy and one of the major benefits of it in comparison is that it is broken down and eliminated by the body more easily.

Re-establishing Ability

We talked about hand and finger dexterity earlier here, and how knowing someone with Parkinson’s disease will make you not take your dexterity for granted. Cursive writing may be a dying art, but if you’ve ever seen someone with Parkinson’s try to even print their name you can see why people say it’s good to continue to build on existing neural networks in case you do develop a debilitating brain condition in later life.

Parkinson’s disease treatments do work well though, and while there’s no cure for the disease yet these common Parkinson’s medications like Requip do allow patients to gain back more of these abilities. Advanced age may make these meds less effective, but most people still gain enough in the way of greater motor skill control that it makes it worthwhile. And if you have restless legs syndrome then Requip in particular is a Parkinson’s treatment drug that can also make it so that your legs don’t keep you up twitching and jumping all on their own.

Parkinson’s may be the most unfortunate diagnosis for people, but it’s one of the areas where a lot of research is focused and there is reason to hope that eventually a cure may be found. Until then taking a common medication for Parkinson’s disease allows many people to live more of a normal life and that’s a good thing for all involved.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The above information is intended to increase awareness of health information and does not suggest treatment or diagnosis. This information is not a substitute for individual medical attention and should not be construed to indicate that use of the drug is safe, appropriate, or effective for you. See your health care professional for medical advice and treatment.

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