Have any of you had a medical doctor who is willing to oversee both mucuna/supplements with the option of moving to other mainstream pharmaceuticals? Is this only mythical? I would love some advice about how to find a medical doctor who can intelligently oversee a course of mucuna pruriens and supporting supplements with the option of going to conventional if necessary later. My mother is in San Diego, CA, if by chance anyone has a recommendation that insanely specific.
Sincere Thanks,
Sarah
Written by
SKCW
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Just to say, I would also really love a contact of this kind - in the UK. Many PD doctors seem to be aware of the limitations of pharmaceutical routes, but I haven't yet found a UK doctor who is working with other means. In the case of my family member, his first doctor advised that he shouldn't take medication "until you can no longer make and drink a cup of tea" . With hindsight, I think that was good advice, but other family m,embers, not realising the downsides and side effects of medication, pressed for it, and nowm, the side effects are quite considerable. I wish we had delayed - the best results that we had were with mucuna puriens and vinca beans before medication.
This is very helpful info, thank you, as it sounds like my mom is where your family member was originally. From what I understand, the dilemma is that if we don't get her started on some form of dopamine, more neurotransmitters will die and there will be less for her to work with later. On the other hand, if we get her started on meds now, she has an average of 6 years before the meds wear off and leave her with new problems. May I ask, how long before your loved one's meds wore off or started showing side effects? Also, I have never heard of vinca beans. What form do they come in and how many mg did your family member find helpful?
To tell the truth Sarah, it was always very difficult to see how they were helping (if) and there were always side effects. In some ways (stability) he is rather better now - he is falling less but much less mobile. It is clear that regularity is very important. The worst thing by far was taking anti biotics - these had a catastrophic effect on Max's strength, mental capacity - took him from being a person with PD to being immobile of a falls ward for months with no confidence left. It show perhaps the importance of gut bacteria. I would say that it has taught me the importance of exercise, good food, daylight. I think - but cannot know - that if we had put emphasis on these aspects _ good sleep things could have been very different.
Thank you, I didn't realize that about antibiotics! I will look into gut bacteria factors and check out Gary Sharpe's sites. I really appreciate the direction. Sometimes I feel like a blindfolded person trying to feel my way to understanding what I can of PD.
Levodopa, which gets converted to dopamine, is for symptomatic relief and does not delay progression. On the other hand symptomatic relief can be crucially important. Levodopa in various forms has been unfairly maligned as hastening the arrival of dyskinesia. This has been disproved by a study of patients in Africa who never took levodopa.
A regular exercise program is very important. Daily if possible.
You might want to check out an article from yesterday from parkey13 entitled,
“One of the best articles I have seen on sinemet and its side effects. It covers it all and explains it. Also requip and Mirapex.”
If I could find a doctor who knew about both drugs and supplements, I feel like I hit the lottery.
Drs. don’t know about supplements because you can’t patent naturally occurring substances, otherwise big Pharma would be selling Mucuna Pruriens for a thousand dollars a month.
So, we are stuck with this conundrum. My concern, to be honest about it, is the doctors don’t know enough about the drugs they prescribe.
Here are couple links that focus on natural therapies that I find informative.
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Macuna Pruriens - people were asking about this herb and this is info of the web - but it is an interesting article. 
Scientists at NTU Singapore & KAIST uncover a new mechanism that causes Parkinsons Motor ailments
Simon and Mucuna Pruriens
No meds
How much (dose) Mucuna Pruriens powder ? Zandopa?
