A local man is using his experiences with Parkinson's disease (PD) to help others learn to live well with PD. Bill Hillman, a retired school teacher and coach, has created an exercise video in which he shows other PD patients exercises and fitness regimens he finds most useful for helping manage the symptoms of PD.
Hillman retired to Florida, hoping for much needed rest and relaxation. After being diagnosed with PD in 1997, Hillman found that his retirement years would be full of new and unfamiliar physical challenges caused by PD. However, Hillman capitalized on his experiences as a coach and created his own Parkinson's disease-specific exercise plan to help him stay strong and help manage his symptoms.
Using his experiences as a coach, Hillman hopes to inspire other PD patients to be their personal best through exercise, positive thinking, and an active daily life. Hillman currently uses exercise, as well as once-daily AZILECT® (rasagiline tablets) along with levodopa, to help manage his PD symptoms.
"Exercise improves range of motion, builds strength, and reduces stress," Hillman said. "I use these principles to live the life I choose and AZILECT helps manage the symptoms of my disease that I cannot control."
Dr. Robert Hauser, Hillman's physician, calls Bill "a walking demonstration of how to make each day positive and enjoyable."
Hillman is determined to keep living a happy, active life even in the face of PD. He tells others to never quit, recognize that every day has room for improvement, and make the decision to live well.
About AZILECT
AZILECT is indicated for the treatment of the signs and symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD) both as initial therapy alone and to be added to levodopa later in the disease. The effectiveness of AZILECT was shown in patients with early PD who were receiving AZILECT as initial therapy alone and who were not receiving any other PD therapy. The effectiveness of AZILECT as adjunct therapy was shown in patients with PD who were treated with levodopa.
Important Safety Information
- Patients should not take AZILECT if they are currently taking meperidine as it could possibly result in a serious reaction such as coma or death.
- Patients should not take AZILECT with tramadol, methadone, propoxyphene, dextromethorphan, St. John's wort, mirtazapine, or cyclobenzaprine.
- Patients should not take AZILECT with other monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), amphetamines, cold remedies containing decongestants and weight-reducing preparations containing pseudoephedrine, phenylephrine, phenylpropanolamine, or ephedrine in order to avoid a possibly dangerous increase in blood pressure. Symptoms of this reaction include severe headache, blurred vision, difficulty thinking, seizures, chest pain, unexplained nausea or vomiting, or signs or symptoms of a stroke. Patients or caregivers should seek immediate medical attention if these symptoms or other unusual symptoms occur.
- In order to prevent a possibly dangerous increase in blood pressure, patients taking AZILECT should avoid foods and beverages high in tyramine content such as aged cheeses, air-dried meats, pickled herring, yeast extract, aged red wines, tap/draft beers, sauerkraut, and soy sauce.
- Patients taking AZILECT should not have elective surgery requiring general anesthesia, and should not receive cocaine or other local anesthesia that contains ingredients that could raise blood pressure.
- Patients should inform their physician if they are taking, or planning to take, any prescription or over-the-counter drugs, especially antidepressants and ciprofloxacin.
- Patients with moderate to severe liver disease or a tumor of the adrenal gland should not take AZILECT.
- All PD patients are advised to monitor for melanoma (skin cancer) frequently and see a dermatologist on a regular basis.
Side effects seen with AZILECT alone are headache, joint pain and indigestion; and when taken with levodopa are uncontrolled movements (dyskinesias), accidental injury, nausea, weight loss, constipation, low blood pressure when standing, joint pain, vomiting, dry mouth, rash, and sleepiness. Patients should tell their doctor about these and any other side effects they experience when taking AZILECT.
You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch, or call 1-800-FDA-1088.
About Parkinson's Disease
Parkinson's disease is an age-related degenerative disorder of the brain. Symptoms can include tremor, stiffness, slowness of movement, and impaired balance. An estimated 1 million Americans have the disease, which usually affects people over the age of 60.
About Teva
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NASDAQ: TEVA), headquartered in Israel, is among the top 20 pharmaceutical companies in the world. The company develops, manufactures, and markets innovative and generic human pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients. Over 80 percent of Teva's sales are in North America and Europe. Teva's innovative R&D focuses on developing novel drugs for diseases of the central nervous system.
Teva's U.S. innovative product marketing subsidiary, Teva Neuroscience, Inc., promotes AZILECT in the United States. AZILECT is a registered trademark of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Please visit www.AZILECT.com for additional important information.
Safe Harbor Statement under the U. S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This release contains forward-looking statements, which express the current beliefs and expectations of management. Such statements are based on management's current beliefs and expectations and involve a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause Teva's future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include risks relating to: Teva's ability to successfully develop and commercialize additional pharmaceutical products, the introduction of competing generic equivalents, the extent to which Teva may obtain U.S. market exclusivity for certain of its new generic products and regulatory changes that may prevent Teva from utilizing exclusivity periods, competition from brand-name companies that are under increased pressure to counter generic products, or competitors that seek to delay the introduction of generic products, the impact of consolidation of our distributors and customers, potential liability for sales of generic products prior to a final resolution of outstanding patent litigation, including that relating to the generic versions of Allegra® and Neurontin®, the effects of competition on our innovative products, especially Copaxone® sales, the impact of pharmaceutical industry regulation and pending legislation that could affect the pharmaceutical industry, the difficulty of predicting U.S. Food and Drug Administration, European Medicines Agency and other regulatory authority approvals, the regulatory environment and changes in the health policies and structures of various countries, our ability to achieve expected results through our innovative R&D efforts, Teva's ability to successfully identify, consummate and integrate acquisitions, potential exposure to product liability claims to the extent not covered by insurance, dependence on the effectiveness of our patents and other protections for innovative products, significant operations worldwide that may be adversely affected by terrorism, political or economical instability or major hostilities, supply interruptions or delays that could result from the complex manufacturing of our products and our global supply chain, environmental risks, fluctuations in currency, exchange and interest rates, and other factors that are discussed in Teva's Annual Report on Form 20-F and its other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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