A potential case of remission of Parkinson’s disease
DOI 10.1515/jcim-2016-0019
Received March 14, 2016; accepted May 24, 2016
Abstract:
We present the case of a 78-year-old male who,16 years ago, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease(PD) by a neurologist.
He initially presented with lef thand tremor, stooped posture, shuffling gait, and frequent falls, which eventually progressed to bilateral motor symptoms after 3 years.
Since 2012, his symptoms and signs have almost completely remitted, and he has
been off all pharmacotherapy for that time. The accuracy of the initial PD diagnosis is supported by :
- an appropriate clinical presentation,
- history of positive response to Sinemet,
- and an abnormal SPECT DaT scan;
thus this case suggests the possibility of remission of symptoms in some patients.
We propose that the patient’s long history of meditation practice may have been one contributing factor of this improvement as meditation has been shown to release dopamine in the striatum.
PS - Edit : I Just noticed this publication had already been posted here a year ago. I leave it just in case it could be useful to someone.
Written by
Xenos
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Dr. Janice Headlock talked about a lot of remissions. People that have been diagnosed with Parkinson's and then got better do not want to come out for fear of being ridiculed by other people saying they never had Parkinson's to begin with. More info on PD recovery.org
Dr. Headlock, eh?!? I'm interested in reading the report about these people who fear ridicule for reporting valid "remission". (You're not sourcing your news from Nat'l Enquirer, are you?) People are usually only ridiculed when they present unreferenced, anecdotal, or unpublished second-hand information and attempt to pass it off as established fact (kind of like the aforementioned "study"). This sounds remarkably similar to the sort of vague blather one typically finds on the websites of self-styled, wanna-be gurus.
Really? Are you saying you find this site credible?!? Where, exactly, is the referred "recovery from PD"? This is a perfect example of the "unreferenced, anecdotal, or unpublished second-hand information" presented as "established fact" previously mentioned. It's designed especially for that same segment of the population prone to believe in bigfoot, yeti, Lockness monster, UFO invasions, etc. Note the Q/A answer to anyone wishing to contact any of those "recovery" cases: "We cannot give out phone numbers... please consider going online to find websites from people who have recovered or who are working on recovering." Translation: Keep chasing your tail.
Doctors and experts are baffled by an Indian man who claims not to have eaten or drunk anything for 70 years - but is still in perfect health.
He claims to have been blessed by a goddess when he was 8-years-old, which has enabled him to survive without sustenance and that he derives energy through meditation.
Most people can live without food for several weeks, with the body drawing on its fat and protein stores. But the average human can survive for only three to four days without water.
You can look up her credentials. You can go on the site and download her books. Whether you agree with it or not it has been her life's work. We are talking about idiopathic Parkinson's. Have you read her latest material?
Essential Tremor (JPepper's original diagnosis) is “at least 8 times more common than Parkinson’s” practicalneurology.com/2012...
Between “30–50% of supposed ET cases are misdiagnosed as parkinsonian or other forms of tremor.” nature.com/nrneurol/journal...
With roughly 10 million people diagnosed with Parkinson's worldwide and, with "30-50%" of those being probable cases of ET or 'other', there's plenty of room for erroneous claims of "recovery" or "reversal" from all those misdiagnosed cases of "PD".
I'm betting that you'll be kidnapped by a UFO well before you meet anybody who has experienced "recovery" (or "reversal") from a genuine case of Parkinson's through tai chi, meditation, fast-walking, crystal power, cosmic stardust, incense burning, incoherent babbling, banging tambourines, or anything else listed on your favorite PD "recovery" site.
Here is part of what the complete paper says on that matter (I did not find a free link to the complete paper) :
"One possibility that we would like to bring to the attention of the reader is that the increased intensity of the patient’s meditation practice may have
contributed to his improvement in parkinsonian signs and symptoms in the absence of medication.
One study found that, during Kundalini meditation, putamen activation significantly increase using fMRI [16]. This is a salient attestation of our suggestion as the Hindu yogic practice of Kundalini meditation is based on a similar principle to “centering prayer”, where practitioners maintain attention on a single word to reach a meditative state [16]. Furthermore, the Kundalini study participants had been regular meditators for only four years, whereas this patient has practiced a similar technique for nearly 40 years [16]. This patient’s consistent, meditation-induced activation of the putamen for so many decades could have increased its dopaminergic tone, counteracting the DA loss of PD, and thus possibly contributing in part to the remission of his symptoms."
If there is a way, I would happily send that publication to the group, or yourself.
I am also actively into meditation and find that when I achieve deep states, such as kevala samadhi, (the state where you are no longer aware of the physical body, and experience yourself as pure awareness) my tremors and all symptoms usually disappear, and some times I remain symptom free for days. I've studied some of the neuroscience of meditation, and there are many benefits, I'm hopeful that it will help with my long term outcome
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Next NoSilverBullet webinar on 17th of June: Sackner-Bernstein, MD, on "Why I am optimistic that we might now have a Silver Bullet for PD".
