The most pressing question people present to me in clinic is, "Should I start levodopa?"
My opinion is one of many and there are very well-informed clinicians out there who will have a different approach to introducing meds than what I propose in this video. My goal is that you'll watch this video, familiarize yourself with some of the options and concerns around the different strategies and then you can sit down with your clinician and make a well-informed decision that includes your history, disease severity, and personal goals.
In this course we'll discuss the major side effects of all major classes of PD medications (levodopa, agonists, MAO-B inhibitors, and mucuna). We'll discuss which medications are thought to have some disease-modifying activity (as those should probably be started sooner).
Beyond the generic advice of, "Take your medication 30 min before or 60 min after a meal," we'll discuss which foods CAN be taken with medication, how to prevent protein malnutrition, how to choose proteins that are more easily digestible than others, and how you can tell if your diet is interfering with your medication.
"Thanks for your views on cognitive testing. Very helpful!"
"Once again, thank you. I'm continuing to pick up information from your lectures that is helping me to correct the way I take Levodopa. Great work!"
"Hi Laurie, really enjoying these talks and thank you!"
Your Instructor
Dr. Mischley has spent the past two decades studying the unique nutritional requirements of people with Parkinsonism and working to find better ways to measure, monitor, predict, and prevent PD. Her academic training is in naturopathic medicine (ND), nutrition (PhD), and epidemiology (MPH). She built the Parkinson Symptom Tracking App (www.pd-symptoms.com), has trained dogs to detect the scent of parkinsonism in ear wax (ParK-9.com), is lead investigator of the MVP-Study.com, and is founder of the Parkinson Center for Pragmatic Research (CPR). She created Parkinson-School.com in 2020 as a way to empower patients, accelerate education and catalyze some long overdue conversations.
Course Curriculum
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StartQuality of Life (5:50)
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StartBenefits & Perspective (6:51)
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StartMAO-B Inhibitors (10:19)
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StartDopamine Agonists (14:03)
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StartLevodopa + Carbidopa (12:19)
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StartTreating Dyskinesia (7:49)
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StartCognitive Processing (3:03)
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StartTips & Tricks for Making Levodopa Work Better (4:44)
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StartL-dopa & Dietary Protein (11:31)
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StartDopamine Repletion- Summary (2:37)
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StartGuest Lecture: Mucuna (12:41)
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StartSlides - OK to download