Uses For This Medicine
Carbidopa, entacapone and levodopa is used to treat Parkinson's disease, sometimes referred to as shaking palsy. Parkinson's disease is a disorder of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord).
Dopamine is a naturally occurring substance in the brain that helps provide control of movement and activities such as walking and talking. In patients with Parkinson's disease there is not enough dopamine in some parts of the brain. Levodopa (a component of this medicine) enters the brain and helps replace the missing dopamine, which allows people to function better. By increasing the amount of dopamine in the brain levodopa helps control symptoms and helps you to perform daily activities such as dressing, walking and handling utensils.
This medicine is a combination of three different medicines. This medicine is known as a levodopa therapy. The difference between this medicine and other levodopa therapies is that this medicine also has entacapone in it. Entacapone helps levodopa last longer by blocking a substance called COMT enzyme. This enzyme breaks down levodopa before it reaches the brain. When less levodopa is broken down, more is available to the brain. Increased availability of levodopa may lead to smoother and steadier levels of dopamine in the brain, which may provide better symptom control for longer periods each day. This may lead to improvement in daily activities.