What is wearing off?
Wearing off is the term used when the effect of a medication, usually levodopa, literally ‘wears off’ or becomes less effective. The term ‘early wearing off’ is also used to mean the same thing, referring to the fact that over time the effectiveness of a dose tends to wear off earlier than before. The term can also be used in relation to dopamine agonists, but for the purposes of this information we refer to levodopa.
When wearing off occurs Parkinson’s symptoms either re-emerge or worsen before the next dose of medication is due. This tends to happen more frequently as Parkinson’s progresses, and when it does, the control of both motor and non-motor symptoms fluctuates.
It was believed that approximately 30 - 50% of people who have taken levodopa for five or more years develop motor and non-motor fluctuations. But recent research has revealed that it can happen earlier – with one out of three patients experiencing wearing off within one to two years of taking levodopa1. But, as with other Parkinson’s symptoms, the rate of wearing off progression is very variable from one person to another.
