A drug used to treat Parkinson’s disease.
Side effects include nausea, vomiting, nervousness, and agitation.
A drug used in the treatment of PARKINSONISM. It is converted to DOPAMINE in the brain, correcting the de?ciency which causes the disorder. Levodopa is often given with carbidopa or benserazide, both dopamine decarboxylase inhibitors, to prevent its conversion to dopamine in the body before it reaches the brain. It may cause nausea, HYPOTENSION or cardiac DYSRHYTHMIA.
(L-dopa) n. a naturally occurring amino acid (see dopa) used in the treatment of *parkinsonism. It is combined with benserazide in co-beneldopa or with carbidopa in co-careldopa. These drugs prevent the breakdown of levodopa to dopamine outside the brain, which reduces the severity of side-effects and enables lower doses of levodopa to be given. Side-effects may include nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, faintness on standing up, and involuntary facial movements.
a test of the ability of the pituitary to secrete growth hormone, in which levodopa is administered by mouth and plasma levels of growth hormone are subsequently measured (they should peak within the following hour). It is a safer alternative to the *insulin stress test but does not give information on cortisol production, which is usually more clinically important to know.... levodopa test
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