On the October 25 broadcast of KDVR Fox 31's News at Nine O'Clock, co-anchor Libby Weaver reported radio host Rush Limbaugh's assertion that actor Michael J. Fox, who has Parkinson's disease, “either ... didn't take his medication or [was] acting” in a recent campaign advertisement for Missouri Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill. In the ad, Fox visibly shakes and rocks while endorsing McCaskill and citing her support for embryonic stem cell research. After noting Limbaugh's claim, Weaver told viewers that Fox “has a history of not taking the medication to show the full effects of the disease” but did not note that the actor's spokesman reportedly said that his tremors during the ad actually were caused by his medication.

By contrast, on KUSA's 9News at 4 p.m., reporter Kirk Montgomery noted that "[a]ccording to the National Parkinson's Foundation, the symptoms that Fox showed in the ads are indicative of a person who is taking their medication."

As Media Matters for America has noted, Limbaugh said on October 23 that in the ad, Fox is “moving all around and shaking.” Limbaugh declared: “And it's purely an act. This is the only time I have ever seen Michael J. Fox portray any of the symptoms of the disease he has.” Limbaugh added that “this is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting, one of the two.”

From the October 25 broadcast KDVR Fox 31's News at Nine O'Clock:

WEAVER: And more controversy surrounding the stem cell debate. Coming up: how opponents are fighting back against Michael J. Fox.

[...]

WEAVER: The controversy is heating up over stem cell research days after a political ad featuring Michael J. Fox first hit the airwaves in Missouri. A counter-ad addressing a state ballot measure is now on. Athletes and actors are featured in the spot.

It was just yesterday conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh suggested Fox was either not taking his medication or exaggerating the effects of Parkinson's. The actor has a history of not taking the medication to show the full effects of the disease.

On 9News at 4 p.m. Montgomery noted that Fox also has recorded a commercial in support of Maryland Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Benjamin Cardin. Montgomery reported, “Today, Limbaugh took aim at media outlets that took a snippet of his comments and did not listen to the entire show.” 9News then aired a clip of Limbaugh from earlier that day in which Limbaugh stated, “I said he's off his medications is speculated because he's admitted that he does that in order to show the ravages of the disease.”

Limbaugh and Weaver might have been referring to a passage from Fox's 2002 memoir, Lucky Man (Hyperion), in which Fox wrote of his testimony before a September 1999 Senate appropriations subcommittee on funding for Parkinson's research and treatment:

I had made a deliberate choice to appear before the subcommittee without medication. It seemed to me that this occasion demanded that my testimony about the effects of the disease, and the urgency we as a community were feeling, be seen as well as heard. For people who had never observed me in this kind of shape, the transformation must have been startling.

However, Montgomery noted that "[a]ccording to the National Parkinson's Foundation, the symptoms that Fox showed in the ads are indicative of a person who is taking their medication."

Indeed, The New York Times reported October 25, “A spokesman for Mr. Fox said his tremors were caused by his medication.”

In his book, Fox indicated that “upping the dosage” of his medication, L-dopa (short for Levodopa), can cause “random, spastic, hyperextended movements of the extremities”:

Every P.D. patient's experience is unique. Mine is this: If I miss or ignore those early-warning signs, there's no second chance. I am down for the full sixty to ninety minutes. It's no good upping the dosage, either -- that only results in exaggerated dyskinesias (random, spastic, hyperextended movements of the extremities) when the L-dopa finally does take effect.

The entry for Levodopa on the website of the Parkinson's Disease Foundation notes that “Levodopa is the 'gold standard' by which all treatments for Parkinson's are measured” but that “with increased dosing and prolonged use of levodopa, patients experience other side-effects including dyskinesias (spontaneous, involuntary movements) and 'on-off' periods when the medication will suddenly and unpredictably start or stop working.”

Carbidopa/Levodopa (Sinemet®) Levodopa is a substance that is converted into dopamine by an enzyme in the brain. It is then released by brain cells and activates dopamine receptors allowing for normal function of the movement control centers of the brain. Forty years after its discovery, levodopa remains the most effective medication for Parkinson's disease. In fact, 70 to 80 percent of treated Parkinson's patients are on levodopa therapy. Levodopa is the “gold standard” by which all treatments for Parkinson's are measured.

Levodopa combined with carbidopa (or Sinemet®) represented a significant improvement in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. The addition of carbidopa prevents levodopa from being converted into dopamine in the bloodstream, allowing more of it to get to the brain. Therefore, a smaller dose of levodopa is needed to treat symptoms. In addition, the nausea and vomiting often associated with levodopa treatment is greatly reduced by the presence of carbidopa. Unfortunately, with increased dosing and prolonged use of levodopa, patients experience other side-effects including dyskinesias (spontaneous, involuntary movements) and “on-off” periods when the medication will suddenly and unpredictably start or stop working.

According to New Republic senior editor Jonathan Cohn, Dr. William J. Weiner, chairman of the Department of Neurology at the University of Maryland and director of the Maryland Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Center, rebutted Limbaugh's charge:

What you are seeing on the video is side effects of the medication. He has to take that medication to sit there and talk to you like that. ... He's not over-dramatizing. ... [Limbaugh] is revealing his ignorance of Parkinson's disease, because people with Parkinson's don't look like that at all when they're not taking their medication. They look stiff, and frozen, and don't move at all. ... People with Parkinson's, when they've had the disease for awhile, are in this bind, where if they don't take any medication, they can be stiff and hardly able to talk. And if they do take their medication, so they can talk, they get all of this movement, like what you see in the ad.

The October 25 edition of The Washington Post reported:

“Anyone who knows the disease well would regard his movement as classic severe Parkinson's disease,” said Elaine Richman, a neuroscientist in Baltimore who co-wrote “Parkinson's Disease and the Family.” “Any other interpretation is misinformed.”

[...]

Limbaugh's shock at Fox's appearance is a measure of the disease's devastation, advocates say. Contrary to the charge that Fox might not take his medicine to enhance his symptoms, the medicine produces some of the uncontrolled body movements.

[...]

Fox has appeared in ABC's “Boston Legal” this season. In his scenes, taped over the summer, Fox does not shake or loll his head as he does in the Cardin commercial, but does appear to be restraining himself, appearing almost rigid at times.

A source with direct knowledge of Fox's illness who viewed the Cardin ad said Fox is not acting to exaggerate the effects of the disease. The source said Fox's scenes in “Boston Legal” had to be taped around his illness, as he worked to control the tremors associated with Parkinson's for limited periods of time.

As Colorado Media Matters noted, earlier on October 25, Fox 31's broadcast of Good Day Colorado posed a “Question of the Day” that asked viewers, “Is this [Fox's ad] an impassioned political plea, or is it all an act?”

From the October 25 broadcast of KUSA's 9News at 4 p.m.:

MONTGOMERY (co-anchor): Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh responded today to the controversy surrounding his comments about Michael J. Fox. Fox, who has Parkinson's disease, appears in a number of commercials supporting political candidates who endorse stem cell research. This ad is for Maryland Senate candidate Benjamin Cardin. Fox's symptoms are evident, and Limbaugh wondered on his radio program if Fox was off his medications or just acting. Today, Limbaugh took aim at media outlets that took a snippet of his comments and did not listen to the entire show.

[begin video clip]

LIMBAUGH: They're saying that I said Michael J. Fox was acting. Some of them got it right and said I said he's either acting or off his medications. I said he's off his medications is speculated because he's admitted that he does that in order to show the ravages of the disease -- which I said, by the way, is not a bad thing to do, when you're trying to raise consciousness about it. It was not even critical of it. I'm just suggesting that if he's done it once, done it twice, could he have done it again in the --

[end video clip]

MONTGOMERY: According to the National Parkinson's Foundation, the symptoms that Fox showed in the ads are indicative of a person who is taking their medication.

A tip from Colorado Media Matters reader R.R. contributed to this item. Thanks, and keep them coming!