My symptoms haven't got that bad yet. My left arm stays in a state of low level pain due to the constant contracting. So far nothing has taken that away. Hard to tell whether the L-Dopa had any effect on that at all. But it would be yuk to have that tension in my neck and shoulders too.

Hope the meds work for you for many years to come. If this is PD, I'm sure I'll have to be on them to function at some point, barring a cure popping up in the near future.

Thanks for the feedback.

Cole, I don't know if this will help you are not, but I also had a lot of pain in my left arm when I was first diagnosed with Parkinson's because of the rigidity. I bought this book that has some stretching exercises that really helped me. I still do them regularly and sometimes even several times throughout the day. There are ones that you do with your hands and arms that especially helped and still helps the cramping feelings in my hands, wrists and lower arm.

http://www.amazon.com/Delay-Disease-Exercise-Parkinsons/dp/1424332087

You can also get a DVD! This is David Zid's site and more info on him and his book. I actually tracked him down and did some personal training with him for a couple of days. He was amazing!

http://delaythedisease.com/index_old.html

oops - I think this is his current site

http://delaythedisease.com/

Cool. Thanks.

you can get Devils Club....which really works for arthritic type PD pain!!!!!!!!!!!from www.back-bay-botanicals.com 907-747-8375........ 330 wachusetts St. Sitka Alaska 99835 it is so effective for me i drop $11/month on the stuff from the pharmacy and am able to trade bread/baked goods from the local Haida Healer for it....its sold in the pharmacies on POW island so it needn't be regarded as bogus....check it out! Zlata.......i need to send u some! its better than Tiger Balm by far but i use both....send me message offline and i'll get a jar of it to you asap! that should make us even after the paprika shipment hahaahahahaha....thats some hot !@#$!!!!
Tohle je vborn! Je to ok, jestli j posielam vs niektor?


Brer T.

sorry.....shouldnt be promoting a specific herb/product in general discussion....got carried away. disregard as needed.......

Brer T

Update--

I'm sure by now the L-Dopa is totally out of my system. I can tell it is more difficult to type now, whereas when I was taking it, it was more like it was last Nov., smoother but a little difficult. I can't type very fast right now. And to think, I've taken up a challenge to write a novel in 10 days later this month. I think I'd better get back on L-Dopa to do that!

But it has validated some things for me.

One, the coconut oil doesn't seem to be helping the PD symptoms. Actually, based on what it is supposed to do--provide the brain fuel it isn't getting from glucose to keep brain cells from dying--I don't see how it would. I can see it might help brain cells stay alive, but not bring the dead ones back to life. So it potentially could prevent PD from getting worse, but don't see how it can restore lost dopamine producing cells to fix it. But I wouldn't know if it is even doing that much unless a year later I could report it hasn't gotten any worse.

Two, I've been taking the taurine for about a month now. No improvements from doing that. So either the help taurine is supposed to give isn't accurate, and/or I don't have that low of testosterone so the PD symptoms aren't from low T.

Three, that leaves taking magnesium chloride. I've been on it for three weeks now. If it is going to work, should show up in the next week or two. But so far, no effect on symptoms. I'm not holding out big expectations for it to work, but thought it worth the shot.

Four, the L-Dopa was helping. Didn't totally get rid of the tremors and symptoms, but they were getting better each week I was on it. So I think I can report to the doctor that it did help, but didn't totally take it away.

I'm scheduled to see a neurologist Dec 2nd. One question (I know, ask the doctor). Would it be okay to be taking the L-Dopa when I went, or best to wean myself back off of it before going? I'm thinking I'll go back on it for Oct and Nov, but wonder if being on it might make some of his testing inconclusive. Sort of like taking your car to the shop and it stops being broken. "Well, it was making a noise."

Coconut oil/ Taurine ARE NOT SOLUTIONS TO SYMPTOMS OF PD! They are in a class called neuroprotectants and are included in ketogenic/mitochondrial diets to slow down the degeneration of neurons in the substantia nigra or brain in general.

"A key aspect of the ketogenic diet is carbohydrate restriction. The role of decreased carbohydrates in neuroprotection has been investigated through the use of 2-deoxy-d-glucose (2-DG), a glucose analog that is not metabolized by glycolysis. Lee et al. (1999) found that administration of 2-DG to adult rats at a nontoxic dose (200 mg/kg) for 7 consecutive days produced dramatic protection against hippocampal damage and functional neurological deficits induced by the seizure-inducing excitotoxin kainate. In addition, 2-DG was protective against glutamate-induced and oxidative stress-induced neuronal death in cell culture. The authors also found that reduced glucose availability induces stress proteins, including GRP78 and HSP70, which they proposed act to suppress ROS production, stabilize intracellular calcium, and maintain mitochondrial function."
Likewise L-dopa does not fix or cure PD it does not even act as a neuroprotectant i dont think , it just simply treats the symptoms ergo ALLOPATHIC MEDICINE AT ITS ABSOLUTE BEST! If you are looking to alleviate symptoms with pills take sinemet/l-dopa, if you are looking to prevent Demensia and slow down the process of degeneration..ergo PD.... than take neuro-protectants/change your diet! I see no reputable research that claims PD symptoms are "fixed" by either coc oil nor taur.



peace and research


Brer T

Thanks for the additional info, Brer T.

The doctor who treated her husband with Alzheimer with coconut oil seemed to believe it would be beneficial for PD too, since both involve dying brain cells. The theory being a lack of insulin in the brain results in less energy converted from glucose, and brain cells, starved for "fuel" die off. But the medium-chain triglycerides found in organic, cold-pressed coconut oil provide a ready source of alternate fuel for the brain.

All she has at this point is anecdotal evidence. Someone is supposed to be working on getting funding to study it further, but that is going very slow, apparently.

After looking into it, figured it couldn't hurt to give it a try. Same with taurine. There was some studies and/or theory behind it related to some of what you've been talking about. But the recent study finished last July that showed rats that had their testosterone levels reduced developed PD symptoms, there is now studies going on to see if there is any further link. Since it has been shown that taurine boosts T levels by 180%, I figured giving that a try would kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

Anyhow, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I now know at least that they don't work for me in that regard.

Okay. I had a "duh" moment yesterday in a discussion. I had forgotten that around 2-3 days before taking the Sinemet, I had been taking Mucuna Purienas which contains L-Dopa. So it is no wonder I didn't notice any big improvement by stopping MP and three days later start taking Sinemet. I do recall starting the MP, not knowing it would help PD, and noticing an improvement. Not totally fixed, but enough improvement that I noticed it.

Now it makes sense. I hadn't connected the dots on that until yesterday. Duh.