“Here’s an easy thing to do: Never, never ever lose your sense of humor. If you don’t have a sense of humor go get one.”
—JERRY S., PWP
One of the dopamine agonists mentioned in the previous chapter that many of my readers have asked about is Neupro, or as some call it, the Parkinson’s patch. You may have heard about an alternative way to take your meds via a patch. All you have to do is apply a patch to your skin once a day and you relieve yourself of the inconvenience of swallowing many pills throughout the day.
This patch delivery system releases a steady, uniform dosage of the dopamine agonist rotigotine through the skin directly into the bloodstream over 24 hours, providing a consistent level of medication.
Clinical studies have shown that using the Neupro patch reduces off time for people with Parkinson’s.43 Currently, Neupro is the only patch approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Health Canada to treat the signs and symptoms of PD. It is also approved to treat moderate to severe restless legs syndrome (RLS).
You can check out https://www.neupro.com/for more information.
In addition to the patch, there are several other Parkinson’s medication delivery systems. Where once the only option was to take meds in pill form, now researchers have also developed gel, liquid, and inhaler delivery systems, to name a few. The hope is that these newer delivery systems will help increase the effectiveness of levodopa over the long term.