l-dopa

Dr. Sacks brought worldwide attention to Parkinsons disease and the use of levodopa in its treatment. Dr. Sacks administered L-DOPA to over 200 patients, and observed that virtually all of them experienced soem sort of "awakening" when they had been administered the drug. It appeared to Doctor Sacks that these awakenings were most profound in patients with the most severe forms of the disorder. Awakenings usually reach their zenith within a couple of weeks, then the patient gradually declines again. Dr. Sacks administered L-DOPA to patients who had been dispossesed by post-encephalitic parkinsonionism for years or even decades, who after administration returned to their normal selves, with the same rich and full selves as before their illness. Doctor Sacks also noticed drastic adverse responses in his patients following their awakenings, but this reversal of improvement was the most drastic in patients with postencephalitic parkinsonism, and most especially patients with supervening dementia. Patients with ordinary Parkinsons' Disease experienced the longest periods of improvement and the least side effects. The major side effects of L-DOPA in normally occuring Parkinsonism were a haste in movement, exaggeration in movements, and the development of involuntary movements.

Doctor Sacks's major accomplishment in terms or Parkinson's Disease was his extensive use of L-DOPA in therapy and his in depth documentation of the patients he treated, many of whom are described in his novel Awakenings.

"Reunited with the world and with himself, the entire being and bearing of the patient now changes. Where, previously, he felt ill at ease, uncomfortable, unnatural, and strained, he now feels at ease, and at-one with the world. All aspects of his being- his movements, his perceptions, his thoughts, and his feelings- testify simultaneously to the fact of awakening."