Fending off symptom progression

[GregandElsie]

My mother in law has PD and is taking some meds, my wife knows the names, but is there any med/treatment to slow down the progression? Especially with mobility?

[Gioc]

How was PD diagnosed?

How long have she has PD?

How much c/l do she take?

What symptoms or side effects do she have?

Some more data would be welcome, just to get to know each other better and help each other.

[Enidah]

Exercise. That's the only thing I have found with any certainty.I'm not sure anymore it even matters which one you pick to do as long as you enjoy it enough to keep doing it and try not to get injured.

[JohnPepper]

Hi Gregand Elise.

Yes there is something you can do and you an do it together. Fast walking is the only way I know that can slow down the progression of Pd and even reverse it.

I was first diagnosed in 1992 although I had symptoms from 1963 onwards. I had been going to the gym every day for an hour, for the previous 24 years, but it was not helping me,

Myu wife and I joined a Fast Walking program, starting at 20 minutes, walking as fast as I could, every second day and every second week we increased it by five minutes until we got to one hour.

After only four months my walking spees had improved from over 10.5 minutes down to leas than 9 minutes a Km. It keep on I'mproving until I was 64 and was walking ten Kms in less than 7 minutes a Km.

THere are hundreds of people throughout the world doing this and are getting better. There are also a lot more who, for one reason or another have not done it and have continued to get worde. I have not needed to take any Pd medication since 2002 and I turn 86 next month.

If you ser your mind to it and want to learn more then let me know.

[Hidden]

So far as I know, John Pepper has never been able to identify a single other individual that has enjoyed his purported success. His claims that thousands are succeeding with the walking reflects, at best, that thousands have tried and have indicated some degree of wellbeing from it. Obviously, if you are sedentary, some exercise is better than nothing. But this applies to Tennis, pushups, swimming and many other physical pursuits. It need not be 'fast walking.

The central tenet of John's sales pitch is that, 28 years post PD dx, he takes no PD meds and lives a relatively comfortable life.

Yet he has never been able to point to another individual that has replicated his success (note 1) despite thousands (according to him) implementing his advice. If his approach and success can he replicated, as he consistently implies, what are the odds that, amongst the thousands that have tried, not one of them has come forward and claimed to have replicated his result?

The odds are basically zero.

The far more plausible explanation is that john doesnt suffer from PD. Yes, he has been dx 4 times (i understand at least one of those dx resulted in a non typical dx but i cant recall the details), but if he has presented the same confusing symptoms to 4 different doctors, then it's actually quote likely that they will all misdiagnose. If you put a BMW engine in a Mercedes body, 4 mechanics are still likely to tell you it's a mercedes (provided they dint look under the hood) becuase they are all working with the same misleading or confusing info. It's not like rolling a 6 four times in a row. The closest thing we have to 'looking under the hood' is the Datscan, and John has never had one. He says the primary issue with getting a datscan is cost, yet he generates revenue from his book and solicits donations on his website. Im pretty sure I know why he won't get one, and it isn't cost.

I believe John to be sincere in his beliefs. But I also believe his consistently misleading claims about his own proprietary blend of exercise do more harm than good (note 2). I would applaud him if he started to promote the evidence from the relatively recent trials (note 3) into exercise but he prefers to promote his own thing. Or if he said, vigorous exercise is best but not accessible to many PWP so they should try fast walking. But he doesn't, he is only willing to push his own ideas and book.

Note 1:

His book was first published 17 years ago. I would be prepared to accept that "success" would be complete abstinence from PD meds (or any other source of ldopa) 10 years post dx.

Note 2:

The reason is for this is that PWP have limited time and energy, and there is an opprtunity cost associated with undertaking 'fast walking', and that is that the PWP no longer has the energy or time to pursue exercise that actually does appear to modify disease progression.

Note 3:

sciencedaily.com/releases/2...

There are numerous other links.

[Gioc in reply to Hidden]

Note 4:

Cris with your only post fixed as a twit and dozens of replies it seems to me that you are looking for visibility,

you know that this of single post it is a web advertising technique?

Chris write another couple of your posts and I'll take you seriously or make this answer to JP your own post, otherwise IMO you're not credible.

[Hidden in reply to Gioc]

I understand what you are saying about 20% of the time. This is not one of those times.

[Gioc in reply to Hidden]

Cris,

Come on, it's simple, it's an invitation to be more proactive and to write more of your posts. This answer to JP could have been written as your post instead you preferred an answer as always. Why don't you write a new post of yours?

[Hidden in reply to Gioc]

Oh stop it, Gio. If I had written this as a new post you would have found some problem with that (didn't you recently tell WTP that John should be left alone with his ideas now?) You would have accused me of bullying or harassing him or something. The reason I wrote it here is that John posted on this thread.

You are just playing the man now anyway. Do you have any comments on my comment or are you just looking for another argument? I'm not interested.

[Gioc in reply to Hidden]

Well Cris, I see that your understanding is back and now you understand me 100%.

The problem is not who is JP who, as you say, has been here for 15 years and all we know him. No the problem is that I don't know you and seem to me you don't have a typical pwp attitude.

We pwps are always looking for valid treatments because we have an ever-present problem and a big concern : the advancing disease.

On HU we are all anonymous and you could also be more avatars, but after a few posts people recognize each other and you don't seem very worried about the future like we do.

HU is a support forum for pwps and it always opens like this on the home page: "What's your question?"

you could write yours if you have one because I've never seen it .

[SonarsMom]

The best solution I've found is hard exercise. I do 60 min of water aerobics, 90 minutes of Rock Steady Boxing, and 30 min of fast walking every day. I absolutely HATE exercising, but this absolutely has been holding my PD symptoms at bay. I'm 71 years old.

[bassofspades]

High dose thiamine is something I recommend that you check into .

highdosethiamine.org/

[GymBag]

What Enidah said.

I dont know what Chris and Gio are on about but dont care.

[DEAT]

Reply to SonarsMum

Could you please tell me how long you have been dx, any PD meds you are taking.

Do you do this routine 7 days a week ?

I exercise but dont think i could maintain that level 7 days.

Thank you.

[Rosenmu]

I have found Dr Laurie Mischief to be knowledgeable as pertaining to slowing PD progression. Some things I do for myself are not a noticeable gain but a looking forward to PD not taking over. I am pretty pleased with where I'm at and am hoping to slow progression especially with my Dr's help. He recently told me if I stick to the protocol and concentrate on keeping inflammation down it will help tremendously. I notice a huge increase in pain in my joints when I eat wheat, so trying to stay away from food sensitivities. Dr Perlmutter has an online presentation to listen for free about Alzheimers, much was said about inflammation in the brain.