Brief Answer:
Under your doctor's supervision discussion the following plan

Detailed Answer:
Thank you for your question. I hope I am able to help you understand your problem a bit more and offer a reasonable solution.

First of all, the name of your drug is CARBIDOPA/LEVODOPA. If you are taking tablets daily then, in all likelihood you are taking 2 tablets three times daily. That is a very common dose for an individual with Parkinson's Disease. If the symptoms you are describing clearly all began shortly following your first doses of the medication then, I would also consider the drug as being a possible contributor to your symptoms with a caveat or two.

For example, the symptoms of itching could be due to side reactions or even allergic reactions to the generic form of the drug. I see this symptom along with skin rash and even wheezing in some patients taking the generic form of the drug. I don't see it nearly as much in the brand name SINEMET. However, difficulty with TAKING A DEEP breath in is not a symptom I'm very familiar with when it comes to medication reactions.

Also, LEFT foot and arm pain and tingling seem to be unlikely symptoms to the medication mostly because of the fact that you've localized symptoms to exactly ONE side of the body. Medication side effects or allergic reactions to medications would not be expected to affect only ONE side of the body if the medication is being taken orally or in some other systemic form such as IV or even subcutaneous injection. Make sense? When a medication such as carbidopa/levodopa is taken by mouth then, it will travel throughout the entire circulation and tend to affect both sets of hands, both sets of feet, both sides if you will and in a more widespread distribution in the form of skin rashes, redness, itchiness...numbness/tingling can certainly be caused by many drugs and represent a medication induced neuropathy......but NOT just on one side.

Therefore, I have a hard time explaining all of your symptoms on the pure basis of your medication.

However, I believe that there is a rather easy way to figure this out as being due to the medication or not and that would be UNDER YOUR DOCTOR's permission and supervision to do the following. I would slowly wean you off the medication at the rate of 1 pill at a time. I would make it a very slow taper...as slowly as the patient could possibly tolerate for 2 reasons.

One would be to make sure that the patient doesn't suffer any rebound reactions attributable to the Parkinson's disease by taking medication too quickly. The other would be to see if a dose could be found at 1 pill less per 5-7 days where the patient could resolve their adverse symptoms while STILL MAINTAINING efficacy to treat the PARKINSON's DISEASE....make sense? In other words, carbidopa/levodopa is considered the GOLD STANDARD drug to treat PD. Therefore, one would hate to just completely stop a medication such as this if your symptoms of PD are being well controlled simply because the patient didn't cut back slowly enough to discover whether or not a "break even" threshold existed whereby 2 birds could be killed with 1 stone...so to speak.

Hope that makes sense. So, again, WITH THE PERMISSION and guidance of the neurologist I would make a recommendation that 1 pill be removed every 5-7 days until all pills have been taken out. I would then, wait a full 3-4 before starting anything new.....and that's goes even for DOPAMINERGIC DRUGS to substitute such as REQUIP, MIRAPEX, STALEVO, etc. You would want to be completely washed out by 3-4 weeks from any form of dopamine before starting with something else just to give the body a chance to cool down.

Personally, I would not put "anxiety" down as a #1 diagnosis in your case until I'd already considered the organic alternatives and have had a chance to wean you down slowly and then, try either another regimen....OR another option I think that would be very reasonable is to use BRAND NAME SINEMET after the washout of the generic has occurred. I have almost NEVER seen adverse reactions such as you describe in the brand name drug whereas I've seen all sorts of side effects and drug induced reactions by taking the generic.

If I've adequately answered your questions could you do me a huge favor by CLOSING THE QUERY and being sure to include some fine words of feedback along with a 5 STAR rating if you feel my suggestions have helped? Again, many thanks for posing your questions and please let me know how things turn out.

Do not forget to contact me in the future at: www.bit.ly/drdariushsaghafi for additional questions, comments, or concerns having to do with this topic or others.

This query has utilized a total of 28 minutes of professional time in research, review, and synthesis for the purpose of formulating a return statement.

---