Theory of brain disease faces challenge, most PD patients have additional, non-motor symptoms, and is coming to be understood as a much broader disease.
Current theorys see Parkinson’s as degeneration of the substantia nigra .The hypothesis Braak and colleagues research pathology would indicate that it advances from the peripheral nervous system to the brain stem in a staging system first described by Braak in 2003
Chronic constipation, loss of smell, and REM sleep disorders often occur before the motor symptoms
One of the attractive features of Braak’s staging scheme is that the areas of the nervous system littered with Lewy bodies at the earliest stages of disease could account for these non-motor symptoms.
The staging system, draws attention to the damage in other transmitter systems—in other words, apart from and before the nigrostriatal system. In addition, it can serve as a framework for relating the pathology in other parts of the nervous system (gastrointestinal tract, spinal cord, and so on) to that in the brain.
Your information about Braak's staging system theory is interesting. To the layman's mind it would seem that a person who has lost his/her sense of smell could now be linked to Parkinson's, sometimes many years before the onset of motor symptoms. The question then though, is "Would you want to know"?
I would want to know if there was something I could do--I'm so glad I took those ballroom dancing classes. My muscles are trained to move in different ways. I could have altered my diet. I could have avoided unnecessary stress and slept more. Yes.
My worst symptoms are in my gut. If I didn't have that I could manage motor symptoms. I asked my neuro (a leading research doctor ) if anyone is doing research in GI and PD and he said no! Come on medical community, listen to us!
Hi Patv The gut and its importance is becoming significant.We have learned much about the brain but neglected the bigger picture. Hopefull and onwards in 2012
A daily cocktail of food additives can lead to dramatic improvements for people with Parkinson’s Disease, a retired dentist believes.
Andrew Carmichael, 68, who lives in Ashton, Preston, has been researching the theory that gut health and brain health are connected.
Andrew, who has a broad medical background, has discovered the Parkinson’s Imman of the Preston branch of the Parkinson’s Society between 2003 and 2008, has been trialling the PIP mix on a number of patients.
The father-??of-??five and grandfather-??of-??seven said: « There are
drugs which do improve Parkinson’s, but a lot of them have side effects so I looked at a non-??drug solution to slow down some of the problems.
« The University of Central Lancashire has been extremely helpful in allowing me to use their library and Internet research facilities to carry out my research into this way of dealing with Parkinson’s Disease. »
Andrew has tested the PIP mix on about 50 patients.
He has seen improvements in about 20% of cases and says the changes have been dramatic.
He said: « The patients are effectively taking a mixture of food additives such as palmitoyl ascorbate, which is accepted as a safe food additive, folic acid, lemon fish oil and a probiotic drink every day.
« The mix is now available in a single dose.
« The idea is that by improving a person’s digestion, you are improving their absorption of nutrients and this reduces inflammation in the brain which is one of the causes of Parkinson’s. »
Andrew says that while the PIP mix is not a cure for Parkinson’s Disease, it can lead to considerable improvements.
He said: « One of the patients who has taken part in the trial is a music teacher who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s at the age of 42 and had to give up teaching a few years later.
« I met him when he was 52 and he was walking with a stick.
« Since taking part in this programme, he is now back to teaching pupils
stringed instruments, can play himself and is back to taking part in competitive sports.
« Another patient who has benefited from the trial is a 75-??year-??old who three months ago was in a chair and was unable to do almost anything.
« Within two months of taking part in this programme, he was able to go
back to indoor bowling. »
Andrew has funded the research himself and with the help of donors. So far it has cost 6,000.
He is now registering the Parkinson’s Improvement Programme as a charity so he can apply for research funding.
Anyone wanting more information can contact Andrew at:
Novel brain-??gut neurotransmitter imaging and functional brain imaging show dysregulation of the brain-??gut axis at the peripheral, spinal, and cerebral levels, all of which contribute toward the symptoms of Gastro Intestinal Disorders. particularly IBS Irritable bowel syndrome
Past and Present
Since the days of Descartes, there has been a clear delineation in Western medicine between functional and organic conditions in the biomedical model of medicine.Using traditional diagnostic techniques, such as endoscopy and imaging, IBS were often considered at the functional end of the functional-??organic spectrum. This would necessarily imply an absence of detectable structural abnormalities.
In the past 2 decades, there has been a great surge of research on motility, brain imaging, and neurotransmitters, which has given us the brain-??gut axis?—?a working formulation now used ubiquitously by all international research groups.The pathophysiological understanding of the organic aspects of IBS has increased to such a degree that there is some debate whether we can still strictly call it a functional disorder.11 The time of Descartes is being challenged, but unfortunately the negative stigma associated with functional conditions still lingers in the minds of many clinicians and patients.
Stress can enable IBS symptoms. Likewise, chronic IBS symptoms can lead to physiological effects. In addition, stress aggravates motility, lowers pain thresholds, and increases gut inflammation.
It is suggested that Patients with severe and symptoms of IBS may have central dysregulation of their pain regulatory pathways (central sensitization).16 Because many of these pathways are activated by the same neurotransmitters (eg, serotonin, norepinephrine, opiates)
Neuroplasticity
Perhaps the most striking rationale for the use of centrally acting treatments in recent years is the concept of neuroplasticity. Antidepressants, and possibly psychotherapy, can promote neurogenesis (ie, the regrowth of neurons) following the loss of cortical neurons in psychiatric trauma. Functional MRI studies have shown reduced neuron density in cortical brain regions involved in emotional and pain regulation in patients with pain disorders and with IBS. Pain and psychological trauma (and particularly the combination of both) can be neurodegenerative?—?much like Alzheimer disease and Parkinson disease are.
Functional GI Disorders and Psychiatry
by Claude Botha, MBChB, MRCPsych and Doug Drossman, MD | 15 November 2011
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prepare for a dramatically worse progression of disease
Did you know that only half of our disease is being treated?
I've been reading about the benefits of Forced Exercise and exercise rate on bicycles and its effect on PD symptoms. 
