Patient/caregiver was educated on how to take Carbidopa-Levodopa as follows:
- Maintain strict compliance with intake of the medication as ordered, with regards to dosage and frequency, to derive the benefit of the medication.
- Take the medication at the same time, every day, to avoid forgetting the medication. Compliance with the time of medication intake can help with maintaining ideal levels of the medication in the blood, which can contribute towards desired therapeutic results and prevent toxicity.
- Do not change the dose on this medication without consulting your doctor.
- This medication can induce some nausea and vomiting, when taken on empty stomach. Taking the medication with a glass of water and some food or snack can help avoid these unpleasant gastrointestinal symptoms.
- Carbidopa-Levodopa intake can induce extreme sleepiness and sedation, with unusual dreams and hallucinations. A number of OTC cough medications and antihistamines, muscle relaxant medications, antidepressant medications, antipsychotics, and antianxiety medications, can potentiate the dizziness and confusion caused by Carbidopa-Levodopa and so, must be avoided taking along with Carbidopa-Levodopa. Starting the medication at a low dose and gradually increasing the dose, to help optimum control of your symptoms, can contribute to reducing the risk for drowsiness and dizziness due to the medication.
- Do not take Carbidopa-Levodopa with alcohol. Alcohol can compound the drowsiness Carbidopa-Levodopa can cause, thus compromising safety and potentiating a serious risk for accidents and falls.
- Take the regular tablet as a whole. If you encounter difficulty swallowing the whole tablet, you may cut the tablet and swallow it in pieces with a glass of water. You may also crush the tablet and sprinkle the powder on a spoonful of soft jelly or applesauce and swallow the jelly or sauce along with the medication.
- If you are prescribed an extended or controlled release tablet/capsule, do not cut or crush the pill. Cutting or crushing the extended or controlled release pill can result in rapid absorption of the drug into the blood stream, thus resulting in toxicity and compromised therapeutic effects.
- Carbidopa-Levodopa could also be prescribed as an orally disintegrating tablet. This orally disintegrating tablet must not be swallowed as a whole or chewed upon. Allow this tablet to dissolve in your mouth and swallow the dissolved tablet completely using some water.
- Carbidopa-Levodopa takes a few weeks to fairly balance the chemicals in the brain, before any relief from symptoms of Parkinson’s is noted. Do not discontinue taking the medication without your physician’s consult, as you failed to see the improvement with Parkinson’s symptoms, immediately after taking the medication.
- Carbidopa-Levodopa only helps by affecting the fine balance between the chemical neurotransmitters in the brain and might not a permanent cure for Parkinson’s. So, continue taking Carbidopa-Levodopa, even if your symptoms of Parkinson’s are well-controlled. Discontinuing the medication abruptly can result in disruption of this chemical balance in the brain, resulting in reverting of symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
- As the balance between the chemicals in the brain has to be finely regulated to help relieve symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, the dose of Carbidopa-Levodopa also needs to be finely regulated, in order to accomplish this goal. Your physician could change the dose of Carbidopa-Levodopa, based on the response and side-effects developed. Maintain compliance with follow-up physician appointments and be accommodative to the plan of dose changes, until you show an optimum response.
- Notify your doctor of any unresolved and worsening akinesia, rigidity, and tremor. Also, notify your doctor regarding exacerbation of depressive symptoms, if any, or any other continuing unpleasant side-effects, so that, your dosage on the medication could be revised.
- If you miss a dose, try taking it at the earliest notice of noncompliance. If it is time for the next dose, skip the missed dose and take the dose scheduled. Do not take an extra dose to try making up for the missed dose. Notify your doctor and other health care personnel regarding your dose noncompliance.
