Here are some of the most important unanswered questions in Parkinson’s disease research from some of the leading figures in the field.
Sara Riggare
Why are most patients tremor dominant?
Prof. Bas Bloem
Why do rates of progression differ so much between different patients?
Why do patients with a tremor, which is an extra motor sign, have a better prognosis than those without?
Why do some people develop freezing of gait?
Why are there such prominent gender differences in Parkinson’s disease?
Prof. John Hardy
Are alpha-synuclein deposits the cause or consequence of something deeper wrong with neurons?
Prof. Andrew Lees
Is the presence of Lewy bodies at post-mortem essential to confirm the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease or can it occur without them?
Can we diagnose Parkinson’s disease in the absence of bradykinesia?
Dr. Peter Schmidt
Most genes identified are linked to risk of Parkinson’s but not how it manifests and the rate of progression. What biological factors contribute to the progression rate?
What factors contribute to the risk of cognitive change in PD, which seems to be largely absent in about 50% of cases?
How much do we have to knock down extracellular alpha-synuclein to measurably slow cell to cell transmission (if this approach even works)? Is, for example, a 99% reduction enough?
Dr. Simon Stott
Why does the condition progress so slowly?
Why are some cells in the brain more vulnerable than others?
Why does the condition affect men more than women?
Prof. Gerold Riempp
Is PD really a single illness or is it rather a group of different ailments that all lead to somewhat similar symptoms in the end?
How big is the influence of genetic components of PD?
Why is the incidence of PD lower in countries closer to the equator?
Is there a single way of curing PD?
Prof. Joel Watts
Can we develop an accurate animal model of PD?
Does spreading of protein aggregate pathology contribute to disease progression in PD?
Prof. Roger Barker
When does Parkinson’s disease begin?
Why do some patients with PD do so well?
Does alpha-synuclein really have prion like properties in patients with PD?
Prof. Tanya Gurevich
What is the trigger which activates the cascade of neurodegeneration?
“The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”
– Albert Einstein
“What interests me in life is curiosity, challenges, the good fight with its victories and defeats.”
– Paulo Coelho
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May I, as a Pd patient offer at least one answer to one question and a possible answer to others?
Prof Bas Bloem - Why do some people develop freezing of gait?
With every single person with 'freezing', whom I have shown how to walk properly
, the moment I encourage them to - concentrate on placing their body-weight onto one leg and then lifting the other leg off the ground - they immediately walk properly. I then continue to walk with them.loosely holding their arm, they carry on walking normally and at a good speed. When the lose that concentration, they freeze!
Prof. Gerold Riempp
. Is PD really a single illness or is it rather a group of different ailments that all lead to somewhat similar symptoms in the end?
My understanding, as a Patient, is that Pd damages the cells in the substantia nigra. - If each of those cells has a specific purpose, such as a movement or a thought process - then unless Pd damages everybody's cells in exactly the same position at the same rate, then we would each display different symptoms, depending on what each cell's function was, when it was destroyed.
Why is the incidence of PD lower in countries closer to the equator?
I live in Africa. Most people with Pd never get to a doctor, because of the lack of availability of doctors and money. That does not mean that there are fewer Pd sufferers. I am generalizing here that the further we get away from the equator the more affluent people become.
Is there a single way of curing PD? - Is there currently ANY WAY?
Prof. Roger Barker
. When does Parkinson’s disease begin?
I assume that he means the symptoms start to show? That only happens when more than 70% of the cells have been destroyed, which he also knows. Is he therefore asking when does Pd start destroying cells?
Why do some patients with PD do so well? - Some patients are more active than others and some are more determined than others.
It has developed all these mechanisms and complex structures in a chemically and physically hostile world in millions and millions of years with fairly good success.
The biggest question is "why do you age?"
The answer may be that Cell Life itself has set up these mechanisms as it considered reproduction in the new organism to be more effective for surviving in a world of drastic and hostile changes.
Personally I think I'm not my body, which will grow old ... my only concern is the excessive suffering that sufferers of PD go through, I would like to avoid it and I will avoid it.
I am my soul and I will recover, sooner or later....
Hi, remember me? I was the caretaker for my son who died of PSP May 4, 2017, at barely turning 55 years old. He was DX with PD January 2015.
His very first symptoms, DOUBLE VISION and SLURRED SPEECH and DEEP FATIGUE, appeared in March 2014.
He was Re-Dx with PSP on January, 2017. HE NEVER HAD A TREMOR.
I think those with tremors have PD, I suspect those who do NOT have a tremor, do not have PD but have some other brain disease. We know that PD produces the Alpha Synuclein. The six identified PRIME OF LIFE BRAIN DISEASES (PSP, CBD, MSA, FTD, ALS, CTE) produce Tau. They are different.
So, my 2cents is that PD does NOT progress to these other brain diseases, but we do not note the differences until two-three years down the road, and then some Neuros never note the difference or do not tell the patient/caretaker.
My son and I use to celebrate that he had no tremor, looking back I wished he had. His biological father died of FTD as dx by UCLA. We were divorced in 1974 and his father died in 2002 with symptoms not appearing until about 2000.
My biological father in his mid fifties suffered dystonia of the neck (he could not turn it) and double vision. His primary doctor NEVER sent him to a Neuro but immediately put him on all the mitochondria supplements that Silvestrov shared with us. In addition, in support of John Pepper, my father loved to bike. He drank tons of coffee and rode his bike daily for about 4 hours (both gave him pleasure and not because he was informed that they would help him). My dad worked with chemicals in the studios, and suspecting that they were the culprits quit working at about 55 years old..... a few months after the onset of his symptoms. My mom was FURIOUS, but he would not budge. My mom supported the family with her meat wrapping job.
I think, based on the anecdotal info within my family, that those who start early with EXERCISE AND MITOCHONDRIA SUPPLEMENTS are on the correct path, along with a POSITIVE OUTLOOK, banishing negativity .
I think the high dose hcl thiamine (that so many on this site are participating) will eventually find that it slows the progression. My dad died at the age of 92 from bone cancer that started with the prostrate. His double vision and his dystonia of the neck NEVER went away or became less. He took his supplements until a day or so before he died.
I do not have PD, but my body fell apart after the death of my son. I could barely walk, took to using a cane, and was in pain. I too have started on the hcl thiamin...my gait and balance has improved, stiffness almost gone. I do NOT take the high does, but take 100mg at breakfast and lunch. I am 78 years old.
Thank you for indulging me this share. From time to time I visit the PDF site. It is much more hopeful than the PSP site,....which I visit almost every day.
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