[Baby Blessing]

[SIZE="3"]I wanted to post this news article as others may be interested in it. I sure was happy to receive this article by email from a dear friend of ours. I have printed this off and will be giving it to Jack's Dr. and see if he can put Jack on the Zonisamide. Could this be a miracle drug we have been praying for, I sure pray that it is so, and it will prove promising in helping Jack and many others. It sounds to me like the side effects is nothing compared to the side effects from all the other Parkinsons meds that one has to tolerate. I was so thankful to get this article and hope others in our position will find it prayerfully to be of help. I have never given up HOPE and I do BELIEVE there is help ahead for those with Parkinsons, Multiple Sclerosis, etc, could this be it? Please everyone let us pray that this will be one we have been waiting for. Patti /SIZE]

http://www.sootoday.com/content/news/full_story.asp?
StoryNumber=21908

The following is copied and pasted from the above

Hope for Parkinson patients who don't respond to L-dopa
By David Helwig
SooToday.com
Tuesday, January 02, 2007

NEWS RELEASE

AMERICAN ACADEMY OF NEUROLOGY

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Drug improves tremors, involuntary movements in Parkinson patients

A drug used to treat epilepsy has been found to significantly improve tremors, motor fluctuations, and other involuntary movements, or dyskinesias, in patients with Parkinson disease, according to a study published in the January 2, 2007, issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The three-month, multi-center study in Japan involved 279 Parkinson disease patients who weren't responding well to the commonly used drug, levodopa, to manage their symptoms.

The patients were divided into groups that took 25, 50 or 100 mg a day of the drug zonisamide or placebo.

Researchers found at least 30 percent of patients taking zonisamide experienced a more than 30-percent reduction in their score on a rating scale used to follow the progression of a person's Parkinson disease.

The most significant improvement was seen in the group taking 50 mg of zonisamide a day.

That group saw a nearly 40-percent improvement in the score.

"Zonisamide treatment improved all main Parkinson disease symptoms in these patients, including tremor and other disabling dyskinesias. This is consistent with findings from other, smaller studies," said lead author Miho Murata, MD, PhD, with the National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry in Tokyo, Japan. "Zonisamide is safe, effective, and well tolerated at 25 to 100 mg a day as an added treatment in patients with Parkinson disease."

While this study lasted only 12 weeks, Murata says their preliminary data shows the benefits of zonisamide observed at 12 weeks were maintained for more than a year in all 17 patients involved in a study on the long term effects of zonisamide on Parkinson disease.

Murata says it's not fully understood yet as to why zonisamide helps Parkinson disease symptoms and further study is needed to clarify the mechanism behind the drug's benefits.

According to the study, the drug's most common side effects were drowsiness, apathy, weight loss, and constipation.

The study was supported by Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma, which discovered zonisamide.

The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 20,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to improving patient care through education and research.

A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as stroke, Alzheimer?s disease, epilepsy, Parkinson disease, and multiple sclerosis.

For more information about the American Academy of Neurology, visit http://www.aan.com