Wise people believe that Nature has the answers to all our questions - we are just not ready to face them. Making timid baby steps towards discovering options to treat this or that disease, we often go on the wrong track and take roundabouts, losing precious time and patients’ lives before we finally succeed in discovering means to cure or at least suppress health disorders known to the modern world.

In case with Parkinson’s disease the journey is not over yet, the cure is not found. Nonetheless, scientists were lucky enough to disclose ways of slowing the disease progression. Moreover, the most effective option turned out to be a substance naturally existing in the foods we consume. That is one of the substantial evidences of the above mentioned statement about Nature’s almightiness, isn’t it?

The chemical capable of lessening Parkinson’s symptoms is now familiar to us as Levodopa (L-Dopa), produced from the amino acid tyrosine found in meats, eggs, bananas, avocados, almonds, sesame and pumpkin seeds, milk, cheese and yogurt. It is now available as a food supplement and as a pharmaceutical drug prescribed for Parkinson’s disease, restless leg syndrome and even herpes zoster.

The matter is that Levodopa is converted in the human brain to neurotransmitter dopamine, crucial for normal muscle coordination, sleep, mood, motivation, cognition, learning and other functions. Parkinson’s sufferers are known to be deficient in this brain neurotransmitter, which results in the occurrence of the condition signs. Thus, Levodopa main action for Parkinson’s patients is the increase of dopamine level, which improves such symptoms as tremor or muscles stiffness and rigidity.

Besides, Levodopa is also a precursor of another neurotransmitter norepinephrine and hormone epinephrine.

In order to ensure proper amount of the drug in the brain, coadministration of carbidopa is prescribed. This medication prevents Levodopa activity (and actually its waste) in the peripheral tissues and increases its delivery to the brain. Vitamin B6 or pyridoxine is recommended to activate Levodopa in the brain and enhance its turning into dopamine. L-Dopa may also be used along with drugs known as dopamine agonists – agents that function in the body similarly to natural neurotransmitter dopamine.

Common side effects of Levodopa therapy include a host of events as nausea and vomiting, headache and dizziness, faint feeling and confusion, sleep disorders and nightmares, euphoria, hallucinations and drooling, and mood disorders as agitation or anxiousness. This drug may also cause hair loss and increased libido.

Among the most troublesome adverse reactions, associated with the prolonged use of Levodopa, are dyskinesia (muscle spasms, involuntary movements and inability to control them), “on-off” phenomenon (when the drug loses its effect for some period, which is later resumed with no explanation to these events), and finally deterioration of function (a drug becomes ineffective). Recent studies report that long-term use of L-Dopa may deplete serotonin neurotransmitter and cause dopamine dysregulation (imbalance) syndrome.

In order to lessen the incidence of side effects of Levodopa and maintain its effectiveness for as long period of time as possible, doctors recommend taking the lowest effective dose of the drug. In the initial treatment plan it is 250 mg to 500 mg twice a day with meals; during the maintenance period the dose may vary from 3000 mg to 6000 mg of the drug divided into three equal parts and taken three times a day. The results may appear in several weeks to several months of therapy.

However, there are some contraindications to the use of the described medication. For example, people with malignant melanomas (a type of skin cancer) should consult a doctor about the possibility to be treated with Levodopa, since this agent plays an important role in melanin formation. Suffering from glaucoma and current treatment with MAO inhibitors may be the significant obstacles for L-Dopa therapy as well.

Antidepressants, antacids, anti-hypertensive and anti-seizure medications may interact with Levodopa producing undesirable effects in the body. Similarly, administration of this anti-Parkinson drug along with vitamins (e.g. vitamin B6) and food supplements may be not recommended.

These days Levodopa is the most effective treatment of Parkinson’s disease. Hopefully, all the efforts, experiments, and research done by the scientists, as well as the significant and important contribution into the process of investigating this disease and its treatments by such people as Michael J. Fox will be rewarded with the new, improved and more effective and safer drugs invention.