Alternative healing

[Allyn]

Is there anyone out there who has been controlling symptoms of PD for more than a year with alternative therapies? Is there hope?

[Hidden]

Run a search, RoyProp, for alternative therapies comments. It doesn't need to be said, but, we and PD are all different. What I see as the common denominator is not chemical exposure but diet. I was a big cake and candy freak until PD. Now I own a blood meter to measure my serum ketone. The kitchen shelf where used to be my stash, has taken on a new look and flavor. Look for my comment on Ultrasound treatment.

[GailBailey]

There is always hope. I have acupuncture and this has worked/helped me for four years.....

[PatV]

Exercise, exercise, exercise. Also massage. Neuroprotective. I've had to alter diet because of visceral off--I'm very sensitive to fermentable foods.

[landman]

YES!!!!!!!!!!!

Without HOPE, we have nothing to support Faith.

Enjoy the process of curing yourself. Even if it is only for a moment. Soon you will learn to enjoy more moments. Enjoy live and experiment on what makes you happy for the moment. It could be a hug, a sunrise, a cookie, a shower.

You are responsible in creating your moment.

[Prayingforacure in reply to landman]

YES

[Hidden in reply to landman]

a sugar free, low carb cookie

[Allyn in reply to Hidden]

[Allyn in reply to landman]

[NanCyclist]

Check the Pedaling for Parkinson's thread on NeuroTalk. I am six years into this and just heading out for a hike thanks to cycling.

[Allyn in reply to NanCyclist]

I do exer-cycle and find it really helps. I have a small cycle that is "forced" cycling. I tried to get on my bicycle a few weeks ago and couldn't balance it! It was scary. Can that get better with practice?

[NanCyclist in reply to Allyn]

I have never seen you! I recommend that you start on a stationary bike and work until you feel ready to try outside. Riding the stationary bike according to the protocols works well for most people. Best wishes.

[honeycombe3]

At the risk of repetition I have cut & pasted a previous response to a similar question.

I was diagnosed 9 years ago age 55. I am fortunate in that I was supported by my consultant, PD nurse & GP through 2 years of alternative treatments/therapies before starting meds & I have been actively involved in my PD management. I think this gives me a broader balance regarding treatment regimes than many PwP. A word of caution: it is easy to become immersed in one approach to PD, especially when it reflects one's emotional/ethical beliefs & a great commitment is made to it. Despite using alternate (natural) treatments & therapies including hypnotherapy, homeopathy, acupuncture, Yoga, T'ai Chi etc my condition deteriorated until I was in constant pain, my body twisted in from the left & I could barely walk. I reluctantly started combining conventional meds with these therapies & now most of the time people don't realise I have PD.

[Allyn]

Thank you honeycomebe3. Can you enlighten me as to what medicines you found helpful?

I swim, and exer-cycle. I started taking herbal mucuna due to having to wait for 5 months for a neurology appointment - and it seems to help. Now, after reading so much negativity about PD medications, I am afraid to try them. I did try Azilect and it gave me bad headaches..but I only tried it for 5 days.

[quirkyme]

the only kind of alternative healing (such a broad range of therapies) I'd subscribe to is massage, tai chi, yoga. Say no to homeopathy etc. Do your homework and have a skeptical outlook before you put something into your body recommended on a blog like this.

[JohnPepper]

At the risk of sounding very boring, I have posted this response on various other questions in this website, but still this question comes up. Before I continue, I must stress that I am not a doctor and no two people's Pd is the same. We all react differently to medications and therapies. I will quickly repeat my story, to those who do not already know it:

I was diagnosed with Pd in 1992. At that time I was prescribed a single medication, Eldepryl, which is different to most other meds in that it does not try to mask any of the symptoms. It stops the body's natural process of breaking down any chemicals that it has produced, within a certain period of time; like a built-in 'Sell-by date'. If we are short of dopamine, which is produced by the brain, then why would we want to break any of it down? The eldepryl, and others like it, stop that breakdown allowing us to retain more of the dopamine we already have. That helps us to avoid taking levodopa meds, which have very serious side effects and which require us to take more and more as time goes on, until they no longer mask the symptoms and we are left far worse-off than when we started taking them.

I was also very fortunate, at the time of diagnosis, as I had been in the habit of doing lots of strenuous exercise, which is very good for Pd. With the benefit of hindsight, I soon realized that my Pd had started many years before, in 1963. At that time I found that I was no longer able to throw a ball properly. Some people have said that they never could throw a ball, which means that this is not necessarily a Pd problem. However, I also started developing other Pd problems like constipation, insomnia and depression, all of which are symptoms of other medical conditions. By the time I was diagnosed, I had a long string of symptoms, but only when I started to walk badly and my posture was becoming very stooped, was a neurologist able to diagnose the Pd.

I continued to deteriorate at a rapid speed, even though I was taking the eldepryl and was doing 90 minutes of exercise in the gym every day except for Sundays. When I became so demotivated in 1994, because of the continual worsening of my condition, I gave up going to the gym and, having already given up my job because of the Pd, I just sat around at home and slept most of the daytime but could not sleep at night. I had given-up.

My late wife, Shirley, then persuaded me to start a walking program, because it had done her a lot of good. I argued that I had been doing one hour of aerobic exercise, every day in the gym, so what could walking for 20 minutes every second day do for me? She did not know the answer to that question, but continued to nag me to give it a try? So, I eventually gave in and started to walk every second day for 20 minutes, building up by five more minutes every second week, until I was walking for one hour, three times a week. I was not just walking, I was walking at just off my maximum speed. After three months, I became aware that my times had improved by quite a bit. I realized that for the first time in many years, my performance had improved in any form of exercise. I became very fired-up and soon put everything I had into the walking. After two years I had brought my time for walking one kilometer down from well over ten minutes to well under seven minutes. I still walk three times a week and have become a lot fitter.

After ten years, I was able to stop taking any Pd medication and have lived twelve years since then, and nobody would ever know that I still have Pd. I had learned that we can over-exercise, which is not good for us. Our muscles need at least a day to recover from strenuous exercise, and if we don't rest for that day, the muscles start to eat themselves up in order to get the energy they need to continue exercising.

Walking has been proven to be the best exercise for Pd. It produces a chemical called GDNF in the brain, which repairs the damaged brain cells and our symptoms start to improve.

I have learned from others that some people are unable to do fast walking, but I tend to believe that they are not prepared to commit themselves to doing strenuous exercise, preferring to take pills instead. That is their choice! If you want to know the whole story then go to my website reverseparkinsons.net and read all about it.

Good luck!

John