What Does Levodopa Do For Parkinson’s Disease?

Levodopa constitutes a chemical building block, which a human body transforms into dopamine. It thus helps in replacing the dopamine levels lost during the Parkinson’s disease among patients.

Dopamine forms a chemical messenger formed in the human brain. Parkinson’s symptoms take place whenever there is reduction in the levels of dopamine. Because of PD problem, most of the brain cells responsible for producing dopamine die or start dying. Unfortunately, patients cannot get any benefit by taking dopamine in the form of medical drugs, as they never cross into the human brain where it requires.

Doctors thus come up with a remedy to the problem by the help of Levodopa. When patients take Levodopa orally, it crosses within their brain via barrier of blood-brain and once it crosses, it converts into dopamine. The resulting increase in the concentrations of dopamine in brain helps in improving nerve condition and help in managing the problem of movement disorders in Parkinson’s disease among patients.

Levodopa takes place naturally in the body of humans and when you intake it in the form of medical drug, your condition will improve, as Levodopa helps your brain’s nerve cells to create dopamine in relatively higher amounts. Especially, the drug is helpful in the treatment of tremors, stiffness, spasms and poor muscular control associated with the Parkinson’s disease.

Levodopa in Combination with Carbidopa

Most of the times, neurologists and other doctors recommend intake of Levodopa in combination with Carbidopa. This helps in the entry of more Levodopa within the brain and thereby, allows far better functions. Carbidopa belongs to decarboxylase inhibitors. It thus performs functions by simply preventing the breakage of Levodopa before it goes into the human brain. In this way, it helps in reducing levodopa dosage, which may cause less vomiting and nausea.

Rules to Intake Levodopa

Take Exact Dosage: You have to intake Levodopa for parkinson’s disease exactly in the same way, as your doctor recommends doing it. If you face difficulty in understanding the mentioned directions, you should make sure to ask your nurse, pharmacist or doctor to explain you in detail.

Water: You should intake each dosage with one glass of water.

Take It with Food: You may intake Levodopa for many times in a day with your food. However, it is essential for you to follow the instructions given by your doctor strictly.

Take it On Time: You should make sure to intake Levodopa on a regular basis to get maximum possible benefit from it.

The Effect Takes Time: Depending on individual conditions, parkinson’s disease patients may experience the benefits of Levodopa in a few months or in several weeks. In this situation, you should never stop intake the medicine without discussing about it with your doctor.

Take Tests Recommended by Doctor: Your doctor may recommend you to undergo medical evaluations, including blood examination while your treatment with Levodopa for parkinson’s disease. This helps in monitoring your progress in a far better way and identifying side effects.

You should store the drug at room temperature and away from heat and moisture both i.e. at any dry place.

Basic Rules before Levodopa Intake

Before you should start with the intake of Levodopa regularly, you should intimate your doctor about-

  • Any cardiac problem you have, which include arteriosclerosis, high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes, arteries hardening problems or irregular heartbeat patterns
    Respiratory problems of any type
  • Liver and/or kidney problems
  • Hormonal or endocrine problems
  • Intestinal or stomach ulcer
  • Depression or psychiatric disorders
  • Wide-angle glaucoma.

In this situation, doctors will recommend for dosage adjustment or self-monitoring to patients during their treatment procedures.

Conclusion

Based on each of the mentioned facts associated with overview, mechanism and the combination of Levodopa with Carbidopa, along with basic rules to intake or consultation with the doctor, we can conclude that levodopa is an effective drug to treat the symptoms associated with parkinson’s disease.

Team PainAssist
Team PainAssist
Written, Edited or Reviewed By: Team PainAssist, Pain Assist Inc. This article does not provide medical advice. See disclaimer
Last Modified On:January 8, 2018

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