Madopar is a drug of choice used to treat the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. The symptoms include difficulty in walking and gait, stiffness, tremors and slow movement. These symptoms or commonly known as Parkinson’s syndrome is a result of the depletion of dopamine in the body. The destruction of dopamine producing cells is thought to cause the disorder in the motor function. As a result medicines like Madopar, which enhance the dopamine levels in the body specifically the central nervous system, are greatly needed in this scenario to control the symptoms.

Side Effects of Madopar

Although Madopar is effective in controlling the symptoms, experts always advise users to proceed with caution when taking this drug. This is because numerous side effects were discovered among patients taking this drug. As a result warnings are issued every time doctors prescribe this to patients. Moreover, numerous medical bulletins have been released informing the public about the details of the drugs. This includes side effects and how to manage them, and contraindications.

For instance, one of the side effects of Madopar is hypotension. As a result, patients currently experiencing heart problems must be monitored before prescribing the drug. When this happens, patients are advised to move slowly especially when standing. Moreover, arrhythmia is also inevitable when using this drug and because of this, patients are sometimes ordered to take alternatives or if arrhythmia is not serious, lessening the dosage would suffice.

Caution when taking Madopar

On the other hand, patients suffering from asthma, diabetes, open angle glaucoma are advised to caution when taking Madopar. Meanwhile, patients with epilepsy are also notified prior to taking this medicine. This is because; there are some treatments for epilepsy which may have a negative effect on the treatment. With this in mind, it is important that patients currently taking drugs for epilepsy, list down the treatments so the doctor can take a look which drugs will be affected.

Madopar with other Medications

Apart from drugs for epilepsy, patients are also warned not to take Madopar along with non-selective monoamine oxidase inhibitors or MAOIs. Examples of these medicines include antidepressants phenelzine, isocarboxazid and tranylcypromine and the antibioticlinezolid. Moreover, when the patient is taking iron supplements, Madopar should be taken 3 to 4 hours after taking ferrous sulphate since it can impede absorption of Madopar in the stomach.

It is important to follow the doctor’s advise when taking Madopar in order to achieve its full therapeutic effect and also to avoid complications.