One of the early wins I had when starting Out-Thinking Parkinson’s was the discovery of Magnesium Oil Transdermal Spray, as highlighted in the article written by Deb Helfrich, co-founder of Out-Thinking Parkinson's:
How Can I Start to Help my Friend with Parkinson's Disease?
For me this intervention has been highly beneficial and really helped me to re-open the pathways to movement we have since developed. I also believe, that having used it daily for over a year now, it has had a cumulative repair effect. However, back at the start, I had been describing to Deb how, when the Parkinson’s stiffness and rigidity of muscles took hold (Bradykinesia), the very worst part was the pain in my shoulders. To help her understand what it felt like, I described it to her like this:
“Imagine tensing the muscles of the shoulders up as hard as possible and then holding it like that for several minutes – but then being unable to release the muscles by one millimeter again afterwards. Now imagine being stuck like that for hours!”
Deb then made the intuitive leap between what I had described and muscle cramp. She herself had suffered in the past from something she calls “Charlie Horses” – intense cramping of the calf muscles. She had researched the problem and discovered Magnesium, and that this provided quick and consistent relief for her.
So we searched for a similar product in the UK, but we found massageable magnesium products in doing so. The blurb on the product reads “…absorbed immediately when sprayed on to the skin… relieves muscle stiffness and cramping”. So I bought it and gave it a go. Due to the issues that many people with PD in absorbing nutrients properly through the gut, Deb suggested we should try these.
Within about two days of using a transdermal magneisum oil spray, the effectiveness was very clear to me. I remember sitting in my last session with my Counsellor - see
My Experience with Counselling and Parkinson's Disease
- when the Bradykinesia took hold. What was quite remarkable – and I did remark on it to my therapist – was that although movement per se was still difficult, I was sitting there in full Parkinson’s mode for the first time quite comfortable and without pain. This was quite a moment of revelation!
The importance of what Magnesium Oil Spray has done for me is much, much more than muscle pain relief. The shoulder pain was a constant state during off periods, so this issue was also preventing me from sleeping well – and I cannot emphasize enough the importance of good sleep in recovering from PD. But even during the day, it meant I would get into terrible feedback cycles of physical pain and mental anguish. This product was the breakthrough that allowed me start breaking this vicious cycle and start learning about relaxation again.
More recently, I have come to understand the massive role of inflammation in PD, and because some people found the standard oil spray could sting their skin, to be on the safe side I have started using the sensitve skin version shown in the cover image to avoid any potential inflammatory complications.
Another useful resource we found along the way was the best-selling book "The Magnesium Miracle" by Dr Carolyn Dean, all about the benefits of magnesium more generally. The book discusses how magnesium is essential for good health across a wide range of conditions and suggests many of us are chronically deficient in this essential element. Fortunately, correcting this is simple, effective and relatively cheap. We recommend anyone who is interested in improving wellness to read this book, not only due the importance of magnesium, but also for improving understanding of how simple non-medical, non-surgical interventions can make a huge difference to quality of life.