? abdominal pain with parkinson's

[nancy]

My elderly mother has been complaining of intermittant, sharp, gripping upper abdominal pain for the past few months. Has been on sinemet 4X dayfor two years and stalevo 2X/day for three months. Taken off stalevo for one week but pain persisted. Negative Cat scans, blood work, gall bladder tests.
Can parkinson's cause abdominal pain? She still has alot of tremors even with sinemet and stalevo and long acting sinemet at night. Is it possible the stalevo could be the culprit. MDS says no since she came off it for a week but I'm not sure. Any ideas, thoughts or experiences like this? Could she be shaking so much inside her stomach is sore???
Thanks for any help. She's miserable and I'm trying to sort this out for her.
Nancy

[CarolynS]

I was on Stalevo for several month until this past Spring. After searching for a reason for my pain and discomfort, my Internist and I agreed to consider the Stalevo as a culprit. After a couple of weeks the pain went away and has not returned.

I posted the information below in another thread. Hope it will be helpful for you too.

http://www.parkinson.org/site/pp.asp...FJLPwB&b=99906
Side effects of Comtan (and Stalevo) that are different from levodopa/carbidopa include discoloration of urine and diarrhea. Depending on the severity of the diarrhea Comtan may have to be discontinued. For full prescribing information visit WWW.STALEVO.COM or call 1 866 STALEVO or 1 8666 782 5386

http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic3/stalevo_ad.htm
Abdominal pain and distress, fatigue.

http://www.stalevo.com/info/tools/product.jsp?usertrack.filter_applied=true&NovaId=1 178761707192199674
The most common side effects of STALEVO are unwanted or uncontrollable movements (known as dyskinesia), nausea, diarrhea, excessive muscle movements (known as hyperkinesia), harmless discoloration of urine, sweat and/or saliva, diminished or slow movements (known as hypokinesia), abdominal pain, dizziness, constipation, fatigue, pain, and hallucinations. Some of the more serious side effects may include severe diarrhea, severe dyskinesia, hallucinations, other mental disturbances, orthostatic hypotension (low blood pressure), rhabdomyolysis (a muscle disease) and symptoms resembling neuroleptic malignant syndrome (a condition characterized by fever and muscle stiffness).

Tell your healthcare professional if you have bothersome side effects. He or she can make adjustments that may reduce these effects. You should not quickly lower your STALEVO dose, or suddenly stop it altogether.

[judytiger]

Nancy - is she constipated? Husband suffers these abdominal pains and aches - not from his Parkinsons but from the side effects of ALL of his meds.

His GP and his neuro recommended his taking Miralax (glycolax) each day and it has helped both in keeping him regular and from suffering the abdominal pains.

[nancy]

Thank you Carolyn and Judy for responding concerning my mother and stalevo
She does struggle with constipation but with her bowel regimen we have ruled this out. We are going to try staying off the stalevo for a month to see if it makes a difference. Thanks Carolyn for the Stalevo (novartis) telephone number.( 1 866-782-5386) They were very helpful and did say it could take 3 weeks for the stalevo to get out of her system.
Hope this is the culprit!
Thanks again,
Nancy

[BEM]

I have not tried Stalevo, but the agonist Requip causes stabbing, burning, searing stomach pain as well as heartburn.
UNLESS you take flax seed oil ( in caps.)
Flax seed oil eliminates the pain and aids digestion. I recommend Flax even if your Mother stops taking Stalevo. One cap. every morning prevents Requip from tearing up my insides.

birte