Over recent years, it has become very clear that there are a number of things which people with Parkinson's Disease (PwP) can proactively do, or not do, to mitigate their symptoms. Likewise, there are many lifestyle choices which are now known to aggravate and worsen the symptoms on a day-to-day basis. Longer term, these choices have been shown to either slow or increase the rate of progression. The evidence has come both from the science base and from the statistically relevant, aggregated shared real life experiences of people affected by PD around the world, via social media.
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 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 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 MoreBreathing Through the Nose and Parkinson's Disease
I set about seeing if there was anything which could provide even more of an anti-histamine effect over just the nasal wash out method described above. I was wary of taking anti-histamine drugs, because I'd read these might make things worse with long term usage. Being an afficinado of the use of light for medical problems, I did some more research and discovered there are little red light - or even infrared - gadgets which you can stick up your nose to create anti-histamine effects, and that this idea was based on sound science!
Read MoreA Naturopathic Doctor's Approach to the Treatment of Parkinson's Disease
Profile of Dr Laurie Mischley: a new breed of naturopathic doctor, not only able to prescribe medication, but also fully educated in dietetics and nutrition. Laurie specializes in helping clients with Parkinson's Disease, and is working at the cutting edge of research on the disease. The purpose of this post is to further highlight the work of Dr Mischley, and also the benefits of choosing a holistic PD doctor. For updates or news, follow Laurie's facebook page.Write here…
Read MoreNutritional and Genetic Susceptibilities in Parkinson's Disease
My colleague David Spry is helping people with Parkinson's Disease get symptomatic relief using nutritional therapies. In particular, he is undertaking extremely careful and holistic research on a nutritional-genetic issue, in which people with a specific gene profile are not only very prone to nutritional deficiencies related to “melthylation” and "folates", but also that this makes them highly susceptible to a wide spectrum of food intolerances. David is revealing the role these issues play in the motor and non-motor symptoms associated with PD, and is demonstrating that, by addressing these, significant improvement can be acheived in the condition of people who have developed Parkinsonism’s in this genetic class. Most importantly, David has pioneered this approach by testing out his conclusions on himself.
Read MoreThe Overlaps Between Allergic Reactions and Parkinson's Disease
Taking these ideas forward, I went on to research the linkages between histamine and dopamine, and thus began to form a picture, with the logical conclusions that allergic/inflammatory reactions and Parkinson's Disease are, indeed, very strongly linked. Here's what I uncovered.
Read MoreReport on Wearable Light Therapy Technology Applied to Parkinson's Disease
In fact, the possibilities to fine tune light therapy for PD through such wearables is now immense. For example, the Propeaq glasses already come with an app which allows the timings of the therapy to be programmed in: Toine is helping Olympic athletes achieve peak performance at the scheduled times of their events! They also already come with interchangeable tinted colors, including red for increasing melatonin: currently, these are used when the wearables are applied to combatting jet lag, for example.
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