Introducing Levodopa Inhalation Powder (Inbrija)

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If you have Parkinson’s and are taking carbidopa-levodopa in a pill form, you may find that after a few years you experience “off” periods where the drug doesn’t seem to work.

Enter Inbrijia, which is powdered levodopa that you inhale.  According to a recently-published article (“recently” = March/April, 2023), “Levodopa inhalation powder is an orally inhaled dry powder formulation of levodopa that allows levodopa to rapidly enter the blood via the lungs. As an inhaled medication, levodopa inhalation powder does not depend on the digestive tract for absorption….Patients may begin to experience improvement in motor symptoms as quickly as 10 minutes postdose,…and remain in an ON state by 60 minutes postdose.”

It works for all kinds of “off” periods:  “Clinically, OFF periods can take the form of return of symptoms toward the end of a dose period (wearing OFF), sudden occurrence of symptoms at any time during a dose period (sudden OFF or unpredictable OFF), early-morning symptoms before a dose is taken (early-morning OFF), delayed benefit after taking a dose (delayed ON), lack of benefit after taking a dose (no ON), or return of symptoms at night (nighttime OFF). OFF periods can include return of both motor symptoms (bradykinesia, rigidity, tremor) and nonmotor symptoms (anxiety, depression, “brain fog,” and others).

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This sounds like something I could benefit from.  Lately, I have wearing off moments on many days.  Usually they happen if I exercise too hard (hence I’m cutting my spin bike time down from 1 hour to just 20 minutes), or if I eat a heavy meal.  I keep my cane handy in case I need it to help me walk.  And sometimes I have to wait for ten or twenty minutes before I attempt to walk down a flight of stairs from our 2^nd floor to our home’s main floor.