Opinion on Book about Parkinson's

[laglag]

Has anyone read Howard Shifke's book "Fighting Parkinson's and Winning"?

I know there's not a "cure" for PD, but curious if anyone has read it and what your opinion is on helping wy any of the symptoms. Thanks!

[park_bear]

His acquisition of Parkinson's occurred under conditions of extreme stress and his recovery occurred after the stress was relieved. So what he has to say my not be applicable to people with Parkinson's in general.

[Hikoi in reply to park_bear]

How was he diagnosed PB? I doubt he had PD. He claims to have been cured in 9 months from diagnosis.

[park_bear in reply to Hikoi]

His mother had Parkinson's. He had stiffness, was walking hunched over and had internal tremors not externally visible. No mention of one-sided resting tremor that I saw. He went to a specialist, said he had Parkinson's, and apparently the specialist agreed. No mention of any tests. Never took medication, so no indication of response to medication. You have good reason to have doubts.

[Somic67]

in addition he has no clue of what PD meds really are (his view is as minimum superficial) once you start taking them, you have two sides to manage, IMMO

(ps: I had 5x1hr coaching sessions with him and some emails...)

[Godiv in reply to Somic67]

How was the coaching if you don’t mind my asking? Do you feel like you got anything out of it?

[Somic67 in reply to Godiv]

Godiv and laglag:

initially yes. I was starting his receipt and i was having some questions on various things. He was really energizing and encouraging but once I became more familiar with the receipt and I understood that he was having no idea of PD meds I gave up (i paid for 2x 4 coaching sessions and used only 5). He never called me back or emailed for having news from me.

My idea is that if s.one has an high level of addiction to L/C meds (as i'm unfortunately), his receipt is 5% of the job, and the rest (95%) is coming off L/C meds ... and there is no coaching able to help and do the miracle. But some people are not (or less) addicted and it may work (ps: I truly believe that PD can be reversed, but it requires a change of mind and to stay out of L/C meds (as Janice Handlock wrote in her book)

In addition i changed part of my mind of him when he "moderated" a comment I did on his blog, removing the difficult questions and leaving the positive comments, during my coaching period that was in 2015 (if I remember correctly).

Even if he was free to do so (it was his blog) i considered it as a lack of transparency (or honesty) and lost part of the motivation to continue the coaching. instead i'm stil doing some of his qi-gong exercise in my daily routine.

hope this answer your questions.

[Godiv in reply to Somic67]

It does, thank you. Very helpful. That's a shame and so silly of him to censure your comments. I hear you about C/L. I have mixed feelings: need it, but I didn't need NEED it before I started taking it, if that makes sense. The body wants it and relies on it so and that's scary, yet, it is nice to be able to exercise and all that. I think I'd be happy if I could be on a low dose and try other options too. I signed up for a qi-gong class on Udemy, much cheaper than the coaching. I'm sure he means well, though, and we need an upbeat person in our corner. But you answered my questions, thank you. On to other options :).

[laglag in reply to Somic67]

Thank you all for your replies. I would like to hear Somic67's reply about the coaching. I realize there is not a cure out there yet, but I think he has some interesting ideas about helping stress, which I think is making my symptoms worse. I have tried a small amount of meditation but not a lot. I can't concentrate long enough. I don't want to be coached by this guy. Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks!

[Godiv in reply to laglag]

laglag, not sure where you are, but Udemy has online courses about just about everything, and probably doesn't just serve the U.S. There are also a lot meditation apps like Calm that can help get you into a relaxed state. I also looked into I think the Chi Center (chicenter.com) ; they have online stuff for varying monthly costs. That's more the healing versus the meditation, though. Not tried them but maybe worth looking into.

[Godiv in reply to laglag]

One thing: don't forget that it's okay if you lose focus in meditation. Try not to fiercely concentrate. Just drift and bring your mind gently back to your breathing, or sound, or whatever if you get distracted. Thoughts will pop up, but maybe don't give them energy. Bubbles, floating away again. That's how I try to do it, but am no expert, of course.

[AmyLindy in reply to Godiv]

Bubbles! 👌

[Godiv in reply to AmyLindy]

😂👍

[Hidden]

Is there a single promoter of a 'recovery protocol' that has actually had DATscans pre and post 'recovery'?

(To be fair to Shifke, whilst I don't believe he ever had PD, his dx did predate the availability of the DATscan).

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Sadly that is a valid point. There is a man by the name of Colin Potter in the UK. He has the website fightparkinsons.org. He does not claim to have recovered but he has gotten off of pharma meds. He has two interviews with Sarah King the PT from Austin that I found valuable. To say that one has “recovered” is a huge assertion. I am interested in finding those who have improved, reduced meds, or decreased rate of decline.