As I've improved my condition, both mental and physical, I'm more able to tune in to what is actually happening in my mind and body when the Parkinson's takes hold. As I've pushed the envelope of my understanding and incorporated more interventions into my own life, tested, tried, self-experimented, it has become clearer to me...
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The Nervous System and Parkinson's Disease
Now for the very good news. Since we now understand that PD is principally a problem with the Nervous System, it is entirely possible that we can pro-actively prevent further degeneration, and even regain what we've already lost, because Vagal Tone can always be improved, neurons regenerated, neural pathways re-written, and senses retrained
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Dopamine Breakdown and Parkinson's Disease: Part 2
In Part 1, we looked at how the MAO enzyme breaks down Dopamine in the brain and body, via what we termed the “MAO pathway”. In this part, we consider another pathway by which Dopamine is broken down, via another enzyme called Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT).
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Stuck on Pause with Parkinson's Disease
Indeed, I was recently contacted on this topic by Dave Faller, a person with a PD diagnosis, who has been exploring ways to help himself. Dave has written a very useful two page summary of Janice’s “Stuck on Pause” book and other work, and so I asked him if we could reproduce it here. He agreed, and hence the article below.
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Dopamine Breakdown and Parkinson's Disease: Part 1
In this follow up article, we will explore the various ways by which dopamine is chemically broken down, degraded, or metabolized. In doing so, we will provide yet another, more hopeful, story, that the reversible problem may be more to do with the breakdown of dopamine occurring too fast after it has been synthesized, rather than cells dying.
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Fright and Parkinson's Disease
In recently re-reading this excellent article, it struck me that, as part of their own literature review, the authors describe what it is like on the inside to be in the fright response, and hence according to my thesis, what is like to be symptomatic with PD.
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Acetylcholine, Dopamine and Parkinson's Disease
In reality, the interactions between very many different neurotransmitters is super strong. It is not just the lack of one chemical that causes the problems in many cases, but actually it is the resulting lack of balance with other chemicals.
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Sleep and Parkinson's Disease, Part 2
At that time, I had not quite perfected my routine or sleep quality. I am now doing quite well with it, and my sleep is much better than it has probably ever been. So in this second part, I will just do a show and tell about the things I ended up implementing that actually worked for me, in case this is helpful for anyone else to follow.
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Emotional Armouring and Parkinson's Disease
I am working with folks with movement disorders to explore the use of neurofeedback and photobiomodulation to aid them in their recovery. In this article, I cover my background, and how I arrived at these as a solution.
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Histamine, Allergies and Parkinson's Disease
I began following this line of research, and I discovered very many curious inter-relationships and joined up a number of seemingly disparate dots.... dots which would never have been connected by the specialist-centric nature of our healthcare systems!
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Fascia Decompression and Parkinson's Disease
Lack of Oxygen to the Brain in Parkinson's Disease
If I had been seen by the neurologist only, then I simply would never have received the intensive physiotherapy for thoracic outlet - which did relieve the very worst of the pains, numbness and pins and needles sensations. However, I know from networking extensively with other people diagnosed with PD, many neurologists routinely discount injuries and body traumas as contributing factors and ascribe virtually all symptoms, including those more normally associated with nerve damage, to the Parkinson's.
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Constipation and Parkinson's Disease
I will cover below how I managed to resolve this for myself, and then we will look at the potential mechanisms of why constipation and PD symptoms are linked, I will first explain my self-observations which lead me to this conclusion.
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The Endocannabinoid System and Parkinson's Disease
The Endocannabinoid System (eCBS) runs throughout our bodies and brains, and, as we will see, seems to have many of the functions we currently ascribe to the Autonomic Nervous System and the Vagus Nerve, or at least is a parallel system for these functions. This includes having a vital role in regulating stress and dopamine, indicating this system is likely to be highly relevant to Parkinson’s Disease.
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The Neck and Parkinson's Disease, Part 2
This is a follow on from previous articles on the subjects of the roles of lack of oxygen to the brain, the neck and breathing problems in Parkinson’s Disease. Here, we focus on the potentially profound role of special chemical sensors in our necks, which most people affected by PD will never have heard of, called “carotid bodies”.
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Thiamine and Parkinson's Disease
What was needed was for someone to gather and review all the research done on HDT for PD so far, collect all the anecdotes of what has and hasn’t worked for individuals with PD, and to resurrect as much of Dr C.'s knowledge, experiences and wisdom as possible. Then to pull it together and come up with a working plan or a guidebook for other people with PD to follow in order to try to optimize HDT the potential benefits of for themselves.
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Early Retirement and Parkinson's Disease
By Florencia Cerruti, person with Parkinson’s Disease and author of Rebirth at 50: in the end, it was not The End.
Very shortly after my diagnosis of Parkinson's disease at age forty seven, I asked a neurologist how long I should work. His answer was: "Until the last day that the disease allows it." His words echoed within me: what would happen that day? Would I be the one to decide or would it be my colleagues and bosses at work who would warn me before I had the chance to decide? What would the signal be? In any case, what would it be like to work until the last day the disorder would allow me to?
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Feeling Trapped and Parkinson's Disease
As a first step, we perhaps need to identify the places where we are stuck in our lives, those stressors which come with a sense of being trapped, the stressful things we can’t fight or flee from, and try to address these. This is because the tonic immobilization framework of PD predicts that it will be very hard to reduce symptoms in circumstances that our nervous system is constantly feeling trapped by a proximate threat. Examples include being in a toxic relationship, living in a house with neurotoxic mould infestations, workplace exposure a chemical agent, enduring a long and stressful daily commute to work.
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Motivation, Pleasure, Pain and Parkinson's Disease
The activation of the habenula inhibits or deactivates the dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra and ventral tegmental area, and, conversely excites or activates them when it is deactivated. This has profound implications for PD, as this points to the possibility that it is not cell death which causes the issues in PD, but chronic activation of the habenula permanently switching off the cells in the substantia nigra from producing dopamine. This is a more hopeful hypothesis, as it means the cells are just dormant, not dead. If we can figure out how to deactivate the habenula, this could provide significant symptom reduction.
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Dopamine Cell Receptors and Parkinson's Disease
Cell receptor population dynamics therefore may play a primary role in environmental interactions (nurture) and can profoundly affect biology (nature), and may be the mechanism through which history gets written into the body, such as affects of childhood trauma in later life. Cell receptor population dynamics also provide strong and significant neuroplasticity without the need for new neurons or new synaptic connections/wirings per se, by profoundly affecting the functions and sensitivities of the existing neurons themselves.
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