I have always been blessed by sleeping extremely well my entire life. I could bank on the fact that, if I had the time to get a good night’s sleep (7 or 8 hours), I would feel great in the am.

As I aged (mid-late 50’s), I very rarely (3-4/year) woke up in the middle of the night & was unable to get back to sleep. This was something I could live with. I simply viewed it as a mini vacation—some extra time just for myself- and a “normal” part of aging.

That is, before Sinemet. Since I started taking Sinemet in August of 2008, I have discovered that it is a 2 edged sword.

On the one hand, it really does help with many of my symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease, especially:

the aches and pains in my hips and stiffness
greater mobility & range of motion
a more dynamic voice
much reduced hand & arm tremor
improvement in my handwriting & typing (w/o pain) and
it lowers the restlessness & compulsion to move. (akathisia)

On the other hand, I find I frequently wake up in the middle of the night 3-4/month now, and (perhaps more importantly) that my sleep feels much less satisfying and refreshing than I am used to.

Often, I find I sleep through the night but wake up several times- then go back to sleep- and wind up feeling like I haven’t slept very well.

This apparently is a very common side effect of Sinemet. I find it very rare that I have a night where I feel truly refreshed, relaxed and renewed from the night’s sleep.

I asked a neurologist who used to specialize in PD about this, and he confirmed that Sinemet can act somewhat as a stimulant, effecting the quality of sleep, even as the PD itself also seems to interfere with going into the deeper, REM stages of sleep.

One of the most frequent complaints of PWP is fatigue during the day. I have recently been taking a 90 minute nap in the afternoon, even though I set my alarm to 30 minutes. From the research I have done, I know that a 30 minute nap is more refreshing than a 90 minute passing out that leaves me sluggish & trying hard the rest of the day to wake up.

I am a 58 year old guy—to get up at least once a night to use the restroom is not unusual.. but to wake up at 2:00am and know that’s it for sleep for the night—that’s not so much fun, especially when it is 3-4 times a month and seems to be increasing in frequency.

Yes, I get a lot of reading done; I work on the computer, watch news & movies.

The fear/ concern is that sleep will get progressively less & less satisfying, as I get more & more of it; that I will spend most of my life sleeping yet, not find any real refreshment & satisfaction in it.

Sad to say, but it seems to be the price that has to be paid to get the benefits of Sinemet.