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Levodopa + benserazide

Co-beneldopa

Brand names: Madopar

Adult dose

Dose: Initial 50mg levodopa TDS with food; titrate by 100mg every 3–4 days; usual maintenance 400–800mg/day in divided doses

Route: PO

Frequency: divided

Clinical pearls

Idiopathic Parkinson's
Never stop abruptly — risk of NMS-like syndrome
Warn about impulse-control disorders

Contraindications

Closed-angle glaucoma
Severe psychiatric disease
Phaeochromocytoma
Concurrent non-selective MAOI

Side effects

Nausea
Postural hypotension
Dyskinesias
On-off phenomena
Hallucinations
Impulse control disorder
Sleep attacks

Interactions

Iron/protein meals reduce absorption
MAOIs (hypertensive crisis)
Antipsychotics (antagonism)

Monitoring

BP
Mental state
Skin checks (melanoma)

Reference: BNF; NICE NG71; https://bnf.nice.org.uk/drugs/co-beneldopa/. Verify against your local formulary and the latest BNF before prescribing.

Related

Curated clinical cross-links plus same-class fallbacks.

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