The purpose of this article is to review the outcomes from employing the pragmatic solutions, covered on this website, for working towards progressive symptom reduction of Parkinson's Disease. In particular, I discuss the outcomes of the persistent practical applications on myself, and demonstrate the improvement through the records of my Video Diary.
Read MoreMirroring and Rehearsal Therapies for Parkinson's Disease
Movement in humans is a learned behaviour. We learn to move mainly by watching other people go through the motions: we are not born with any innate ability to move around independently. As babies and toddlers, we spend years watching and mimicking our parents, programming our brains with the data they provide. Our brain knows all about walking before we even attempt to walk ourselves, through unconscious observation. Later, we start to get the hang of it through intensive practice, and especially by falling down and making mistakes. Encouragement and supportive instruction from adults help us to keep practising until we have, at last, developed the ability to move independently. But imagine, if as we started to trying to walk, when we fell over on the second attempt, our parents said "oh dear, walking is not for you"! Unfortunately, this is precisely the message people with PD tend to be given.
Read MoreHands, Fingers and Parkinson's Disease
I have done a lot of hand/finger stimulation and experimented to optimize such exercises, in the spirit of Curiosity and Play. I've personally found significant benefit in pursuing this line of research. Indeed, I have managed to recover a lot of my independence and quality of life through hand and finger therapy, and I know just how much of a major part it has played in my own progressive symptom reduction.
Read MoreSocial Engagement and Parkinson's Disease
Recently, I described how the "Polyvagal Theory" of Dr Stephen Porges not only provides an elegant explanation for Parkinson's Disease and all its symptoms, but also suggests the actions we can take towards healing. Here, we return to this Nervous System (NS) dysfunction perspective of PD, and explore further how it informs us about what we can do to progressively decrease our symptoms.
Read MoreThe 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
Read MoreSelf-Doubt, Guilt, Inner Voices and Parkinson's Disease
While most people will be familiar with the external, physically manifest symptoms of PD, very few have a good grasp of these internal, hidden states, and so don't realize that people with Parkinson's (PwP) are also frozen, rigid and trembling on the inside too. Having engaged with very many PwP around the world, I've learned that there are common personality types, and we tend to have shared, overarching themes of internal emotional states. In particular, I've found that many of us can be described as high achievers, but are wracked with self-doubt and guilt on the inside. This finding appears to especially true in the cohort of PwP who eventually end up with a rigidity dominant form of Early Onset Parkinson's Disease.
Read MoreThe Gut, the Digestive System and Parkinson's Disease, Part 1
Once upon a time, Parkinson's Disease was believed to be a purely neurological problem, caused by dopamine producing cell death in a bean sized part of the brain called the Substantia Nigra. We now know that this neurodegeneration is not necessarily casual, but an effect resulting from more systemic issues, which become worse over a sustained period of years prior to diagnosis. Today, it is widely accepted that problems with the gut and digestive system, including nutritional deficits - due to resulting impaired absorption, are not only integral to PD, but are also likely to play major roles in the true causal factors.
Read MoreLeaky Blood Brain Barrier and Parkinson's Disease
When epithelial layers are compromised, and the protective functions of these cellular linings are damaged, this can have significant impact on people who already have compromised systems due to chronic illnesses such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and MS. In fact, damaged epithelial layers, especially the blood brain barrier (BBB) are becoming increasingly implicated in these diseases as contributing to the causal mechanisms.
Read MoreMeditation and Parkinson's Disease
Pragmatic answers for people with Parkinson's Disease can be gleaned by understanding that one of our fundamental problems is that we're stuck in the Freeze or "Playing Dead" stress mode of our parasympathetic nervous systems. This renders us completely unable to relax, which then necessarily leads to increasing inflammation and toxification of our brains and bodies, with the resulting increase in pain making us ever more stressed - a very vicious circle. Hence re-learning how to relax has to be a principle goal in our recovery: to regain the knowledge of how to switch our "rest & digest" parasympathetic nervous system back on for prolonged periods.
Read MoreAnti-Inflammatory Herbal Infusions (Teas) and Parkinson's Disease
Here, I would like to cover one strategy I have been using for some time and have found significant and cumulative benefits from, especially in the reduction of my pain and rigidity. I drink lots of herbal infusions (teas) through each day. I choose the flavors based on the known anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-viral or adaptogenic properties of the ingredients and ensure I buy quality products. I then rotate the flavors through the day.
Read MoreA Person with Parkinson's Progress with Nutritional Supplements
By Penny Mitchell, Independent Knowledge Worker and Health Reseacher, diagnosed with Early Onset Parkinson's Disease.
"This article is based on a series of posts which I shared in the Parkinson's Disease Fighters United (PDFU) Facebook Group. Gary Sharpe asked me to contribute these as an article, and I am happy to share here too, in case other people with Parkinson's may benefit from my journey and experiences."
Read MoreWalking, Cycling and Dancing: Ankle Mobilization in Parkinson's Disease
In this article, we explore, with the assistance of my friend and mentor, Cheryl Townsley, Health & Wisdom Coach, how the concepts of stress interruption and nervous system resetting help us understand why walking, cycling and dancing - exercises that inherently involve mobilization of the ankle joints - are so beneficial for People with Parkinson's Disease (PwPs), and why we need to keep practicing these regularly.
Read MoreCould Candida be Contributing to my Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease?
One of the more persistent problems I encounter regularly (daily) are episodes of severe brain fog, during which "Gary has left the building", my breathing becomes very shallow and I can only lie down due to my balance going completely. These episodes typically occur in the early evenings and/or after my main meal, when my stomach is full.
Read MoreThe Overlaps Between Stress and Parkinson's Disease, Part 2
Although the seven stage framework has been developed to describe acutely applied short duration stress, without any reference to PD, the very same framework also describes well the declining state of a PwPs body over time - if the disease is allowed to progress. Therefore, we believe that not only are PwPs permanently stuck in such stress response states, the degree of the stress that we are stuck in also moves through the stages as our situation is allowed to degenerated.
Read MoreThe Vital Need to Encourage Relaxation in People with Parkinson's Disease
My background is law – patent law – not science, but with engineer Steve Walpole I have spent a great deal of time studying the brain and developing new technology which can measure and influence the brain, andm as part of this, I have been observing people with Parkinson’s.
Read MoreHow A Dog in the Family Helped Me to Understand My Parkinson's Disease
Then something profound and disturbing, but extremely important happened. As I was sitting there, I switched into a deeper "off" state - one in which I zone out completely, lose myself, the brain fog descends, I stiffen up and become rigid, eyes glaze over, I withdraw from the world. hat happened next was extraordinary.
Read MoreThe Vagus Nerve and Parkinson's Disease
I first discovered the Vagus Nerve (VN) when I was researching how Parkinson's Disease begins in the gut: "Braak's Hypothesis" of the disease states that the problem spreads from its origins in the digestive tract to the brain, using the Vagus Nerve as the conduit. My interest was further piqued when I read that people who had had their VN severed via a vagotomy - a surgical "solution" for stomach ulcers - appeared to have significantly less likelyhood of developing PD.
Read MoreHelicobacter Pylori Bacteria in the Gut and Parkinson's Disease
As many forms of PD begin in the gut, and only later migrate to brain, the initiating and causal gut problems will still remain too after the brain damage has occured. We will certainly need to address these digestive tract issues, therefore, if we are ever to fully heal. In my view, even if we could correct the resulting brain problems tomorrow, if we do not also attend to the original causes which reside in gut then we will not be "fixed" for very long.
Read MoreClothing and The Freeze Phenomena in Parkinson's Disease
For People with Parkinson's, there is something very strange about the feedback between our brains/bodies and our immediate environment. The choice of clothes, in particular, can affect symptoms. In this article, I cover why consideration to clothing is an important part of living well with Parkinson's.
Read MoreSmovey Rings and Applications For Parkinson's Disease
"Smovey Rings" are a general health and wellness tool that combine exercise and vibration, which have particular beneficial applications for Parkinson's Disease. Indeed, these hand held "rings" were invented by Johann Salzwimmer, an Austrian Tennis player and a person with Parkinson’s, who actually initially designed them specifically to help himself. So it is not hard to understand why these are proving beneficial now with many other people who also have neurological conditions.
Read More