Autophagy and Parkinson

[marcet]

Who tried autophagy ?

articles.mercola.com/sites/...

[jeffreyn]

Hi marcet,

From the linked article:

"The good news, it's not very difficult to optimize autophagy. Fasting appears to be the most efficient way, but exercise and adding certain foods and supplements are also helpful strategies. If you're truly dedicated, you'd do your best to incorporate all of these strategies."

On that basis, yes, I've tried autophagy (mainly via exercise).

Jeff

P.S. Interesting article, thanks for posting.

[marcet in reply to jeffreyn]

Hi Jeff

Thanks for your comment. Did you get some symptoms reductions (tremors) and what kind of exercises do you practice ?

[jeffreyn in reply to marcet]

Since about one and a half years ago (soon after I started taking a supplement called NAC), everything has been going really well. However, I am not able to attribute this to any particular medication, supplement, or exercise (if you click on my name you can see all my medications, supplements, and exercises).

Regarding tremor, I had an interesting experience recently. I take 15mg mirtazapine each evening to help me get a good night's sleep. A few weeks ago I stopped taking the mirtazapine for a couple of weeks to see if I could get by without it. Well, not only did my sleep become worse, my tremor also became worse. I'm now back on it again, at the same dosage (15mg/day).

[MBAnderson]

Good article. Another good article from the same link. I think fasting, which I do a lot of, is 2nd in importance only to exercise.

articles.mercola.com/sites/...

[alexask in reply to MBAnderson]

And given that you have done well for a relatively long period of time shows how important this is - and almost certainly has delayed progression for you.

[Xenos]

I water-fast every Saturday (24 hours). I firmly believe that it's efficient, but in a very long term i.e. the time PD took to develop. No proof though. But every single PubMed about it is positive.

e.g.

"Therapeutic potential of autophagy enhancing agents in Parkinson’s disease"

Abstract:

Converging evidence from genetic, pathological and experimental studies have increasingly suggested an important role for autophagy impairment in Parkinson’s Disease (PD). ...

(Moors et al. Molecular Neurodegeneration (2017) 12:11 DOI 10.1186/s13024-017-0154-3)

[jeeves19]

Everybody likes it theoretically but managing it regularly and long term requires an iron will sadly! Look up my post on fasting. There’s an interesting boast from some guy on a forum here in the uk re. What restricting food to a 6 hour window achieved.

[Xenos in reply to jeeves19]

Could you give us a link to that thread Jeeves ? Testimonies on that matter are scarce.

[jeeves19]

forum.parkinsons.org.uk/t/f...

With compliments. Good luck. I try it from time to time then get invited out to a restaurant etc and then everything goes pear shaped

[alexask]

Had a big autophagy day yesterday. No breakfast then gym at 12. Didn't eat low carb dinner till 1pm. Dinner at 6:30 - didn't eat after that. Slept way better than the previous night.

[PDConscience]

Intermittent fasting is an important habit to incorporate into your PD regimen. A couple good VDOs to summarize the mechanics of autophagy, misfolded proteins, etc:

youtube.com/watch?v=10jNZle...(Not working as expected?)

youtube.com/watch?v=SYVvqY-...(Not working as expected?)

[MBAnderson]

I would encourage people to try fasting and to give it/yourself a fair chance believing that after a couple weeks and not longer than a couple months, depending upon how disciplined you are, it becomes pretty easy and the longer you do it, the easier it becomes. I consume 1400 to 1500 cal a day and fast 15 to 16 hours most days and don't find it difficult -- because I don't get hungry. I fast 24 hours, 2 or 3 times a month. (If my wife wasn't such a good cook, I'd have no interest in food.)

It works the same as when we stop eating a food, such as bread, i.e., after a while you don't miss it. IMHO, being hungry a few hours after a meal or willing/happy to eat any time the opportunity presents itself, is a reflection of a poor diet.

My wife says I haven't progressed for a year, now. I saw my neurologist at the VA yesterday whom I hadn't seen for 6 months and he said I'm unchanged since our last visit. (Who knows why? Could be just plain, dumb luck, genes, lifestyle/regimen, diet, exercise, blah, blah or some combination thereof, but I ascribe much of it to fasting (ketosis & autophagy.)

[marcet]

I would like to try fasting or intermittent fasting but i am afraid to lose more weight as i already lost a lot. Any suggestions ?

[MBAnderson]

While I don't know anything about you (sex, height, weight, level of exercise, etc. ) it's quite possible that the weight you've lost need not be a concern. I would suggest you calculate your BMI (body mass index) and if it's above 20, not to worry. (Values such as those for BMI or the standard blood panel are guidelines for the general population as a whole, i.e., they may not promote optimal health for any particular individual or PWP. For example, the RDA for thiamine is 1.2 mg per day, but for optimal health many PWP on this forum are taking 2000 4000 mg per day. In other words, you may be perfectly healthy with a BMI of 19.)

I lost 45 pounds which was 24% of my body weight (210 pounds to 165 pounds, (freaking out my family and friends)) but my BMI is 21 and in the context of fasting and restricted calories, my weight is stable. All other things being equal, I believe being on the thin side is healthy. I have more energy.

nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educat...

[marcet]

On the same subject

articles.mercola.com/sites/...

[sunvox]

As always a little knowledge can be dangerous. In the study you quote ,the research involved autophagy of dopamine related processes. This is "downline" in the cascade of events that make up the pathology of Parkinson's. One does NOT want the body to remove cells that are related to the dopamine production process. This study is NOT talking about autophagy related to toxic oligomers of alpha-synuclein, but rather the cellular process MPP+. and blocking the loss of BE(2)-M17 cells. Autophagy occurs everywhere and all the time in the human body, and yes, not all autophagy is good, but that has nothing to do with the theory of alpha-synuclein oligomerization, and it's role as a toxin.

parkinsonsnewstoday.com/201...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/293...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/289...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/300...

nebula.wsimg.com/2d91f65f64...