Ritalin

[Guest guest]

Hi

I am copying from an email that Pam sent me a year ago last April. I had

explained to her that my dad was taking Ritalin and was asking her about it.

Here is what she said:

" I've never heard of Ritalin being used for MSA. I've just done a bit of

reading though and I see that it's a stimulant.

http: " " www.nida.nih.gov/Infofax/ritalin.html

The chemical name is Methylphenidate

I looked up Methylphenidate and it's also a dopaminergic agonist ie. it

increases dopamine production in the brain. These types of drugs are known

to help Parkinson's symptoms.

Seems like that is probably the rationale for trying it on your dad. "

Later, Pam found a study that talks about it raising dopamine levels.

J Neurosci 2001 Ja15:21(2):RC121

Therapeutic doeses of oral methylphenidate significantly increase

extracellular dopamine in the human brain.

VolkowND, Wang G., Fowler JS, Logan J, Gerasimov M, Meynard L, Ding Y, Gatley

SJ, Gifford A, Franceschi D.

Departments of Medical and Chemistry, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton NY

11973 USA " .

My dad was sleeping ALL the time and was really out of it. He has taken it

for several years now and it has been a good drug for him. He has been alert

and focused and is so much better than he was several years ago.

Jean (Phx)