A patient who has Parkinson's disease takes levodopa and carbidopa. The patient asks the primary care nurse practitioner (NP) why two drugs are necessary. The NP should explain that both drugs are needed to:
a. prolong effects of the levodopa.
b. delay progression of the disease.
c. decrease adverse peripheral side effects.
d. enhance passage of both drugs across the blood-brain barrier.
C
Combining carbidopa with levodopa results in increased concentrations of levodopa in the central nervous system and decreased conversion of levodopa to dopamine in the periphery, where it causes adverse effects. Carbidopa does not prolong the effects of levodopa. The combination does not cause delay in disease progression and does not enhance passage across the blood-brain barrier.
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