I have been posting articles on HU now for over four years and by now, some of you, who have tried to do the fast walking, will have had time to see an improvement in your Pd. You may not think you have not got better, but have you got worse? Being a progressive condition, you would have been expected to continue to get worse and if you haven't then the walking has obviously had a positive effect on you. It took me 8 years of fast walking to be able to come off the medication I was on, so don't be too hasty and stop doing the walking because you have not got better yet!
Please tell us all if you have had a positive result from ding the walking. That will encourage others to do the fast walking and also get better.
If you did not start fast walking or did it for a short while and then gave up, you are free to tell everybody. There are probably a large number of you who have not been able to gain a benefit, either because you did not give it a proper chance or you did not believe it. But I am used to that. All I want to hear is some idea of those that did do it and have succeeded.
Written by
JohnPepper
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
Generally I feel better after walking. But I couldn't figure out long term benefits as the disease progresses in spite of doing anything . Can you guide us after how long of daily walk one must feel the reduction in symptoms ?
Hi iqbaliqbal. Do you walk every day? How long have you been walking?
I have done the fast walking for the past 24 years and will continue until die. I walked for eight years before i was well enough to stop taking the Pd medication. The improvement is so slow, you won't notice it, but you will soon realize that you are not getting worse. If you are getting worse, is it because you are not following the recommended regimen?
When patients start relying upon retired print shop operators to (mis)interpret science for them and to propose nonsensical studies based upon naive and ill-founded conclusions (i.e., a single subjective, undocumented, unreplicated, entirely anecdotal case) we're all doomed.
A couple Amazon reviews of JohnPepper's 2002 literary farce, 'Reverse Parkinson's Disease', accurately describe the fundamental problems with JP's credibility. Unless/until he is able to address these concerns, he has none (still waiting 15+ years after publication):
"Do NOT expect genuine 'reversal' by any contemporary sense of the word... The author has yet to provide credible evidence of both an actual Parkinson's diagnosis and - most importantly - whether he's actually accomplished anything beyond the general improvement of symptoms experienced by anyone who follows a regular program of vigorous exercise. The fact that - 15 years since original edition - not a single neurologist backs his claims of disease "reversal" should provide a clue: this book belongs in the 'fiction' section." 'W.D.'
"I do not doubt the sincerity of John Pepper and in the importance of exercise for people with Parkinsons. I do doubt his diagnosis as do some doctors, he freely admits this as well as describing his tremor as an action tremor not the resting tremor of Parkinsons and that sinemet made no difference to his symptoms. A positive response to sinemet is a common way to diagnose Parkinsons as opposed to other similar conditions. It is interesting that in all the years John Pepper has been advocating this method he cannot point to one person who has had the ongoing good results he claims..." 'rochfort'
I don'r know why I bother to reply to you, because you take no notice of my response. The last time I was diagnosed by a neurologist in Cape Town was in 2015. His diagnosis was identical to the previous three, and that was that I still have Pd, even though it is difficult for non-medical people to notice it. All your other statement on my diagnosis are absolute rubbish and are on;y meant to put other people off listening to what I say.
Carry on with your tactics and continue to ruin other people's lives. You must be very proud of what you do!
I haven't been doing it for long, as you know, John, but since starting your Fast Walking and Conscious Walking some weeks back, my balance has improved and so has my mood. Thank you, John.
Hi John I can walk fast and run fast . Walking normal like i never had pd , then I get so far and all of sudden,I'm in Parkinson's mode . Same with the running. Been to strength and balance that helped a bit, done exercising at home. Just didn't seem to build me up . What exercise I did the day before, the next day was as if I was starting with a clean sheet every day. My consultant sent me for blood test, get the results today. I was the one who wrote the post " run before I could walk " tommybigt
Hi Tommy. Did you do as I suggested, "Start fast walking for no more than 20 minutes every second day for the first two weeks. Then add 5 minutes every second week until you reach one hour"? If you did that I doubt you would be having the trouble you mention. Don't be impatient.
I'M ONLY GETTING ABOUT TEN - 15 YARDS , THEN GOING INTO PARKINSON S MODE . ROUNDED SHOULDERS HEAD DOWN, SLOW WALKING. AS I SAID I'M WAITING ON BLOOD TESTS . HAVE TO GET RESULTS TODAY. CONSULTANT SAID I MIGHT BE LACKING SOMETHING IN BLOOD.
MEDS MADOPAR 50mg/12.5mg (dispersible) 1 in the morning, ROPINIROL 0.5 one in morning one at night . for restless leg. SINEMET 25mg/100mg one 4 times a day.ATENOLOL 25mg one in morning
Wow! I won't comment on the medication but will stick to the walking. Have you watched my videos? Have you received the walking instructions? If you have then let me know. I don't think you are doing it properly. You can get me on reverseparkinsons.net. I will see what I can do to help you at no cost.
There is a definite benefit in sustained fast walking, three times a week , which needs to be built up over a period of time that you, the patient, are capable of doing. If you overexercise you can pick up injuries or you can give up because you are trying to do too much.
If you contact me on my website I will send you a whole lot of information that is too much to put onto this website. reverseparkinsons.net
I started fast walking in July 2017. I walk 45 min every two days. While doing fast-walking my left hand tremor stops from time to time. In the beginning the tremor stopped for 10% of the walking time. Now it stopped for 90% of the time. Though after the walking the tremor returns, I do think the walking has positive effect.
Apart from the hand tremor, I do not see other improvement in my PD symptoms. Maybe I am not doing the fast-walking right. My maximum fast-walking speed is 5.3 KM/per hour and I cannot make it higher unless I start jogging. Also, I live in Canada where it is impossible to fast-walk outside during the winter months. Will you recommend using tread mills for as fast-walk ?
Hi Joseph. I am very pleased to read your response. I speak to many Canadians who make the same comment about the weather. My only response to that is if you are able to walk in a shopping mall or indoor track then the second best is to use an indoor treadmill, which is not as good as walking on uneven surfaces but it is better than not walking at all.
You say you have not noticed any other improvements. May I ask you, "Has your condition got worse over this period? Have you needed to take more medication during this period? If your answer to these two questions is no then you would normally have expected to have needed more medication over 11 months and for your condition to have got worse. That means you have managed to halt the progression. That is a major change. When you are walking faster and for one hour you may then find an improvement in other symptoms.
Hi Toogood. If you follow my recommendation of walking every second day, initially for a period of time that you are capable of walking at your fastest rate, you would have a far better result. Please contact me on my website - reverseparkinsons.net and I will send you a huge amount of information, too much to put onto this blog. There are no costs involved.
I have been fast walking for three and a half years, three times a week. My PD has not worsened in that time. Friends tell me i look better and move better and I lost my rigidity ten months ago. For me it's the most important thing I do for my PD. A year ago I added beat-y music to my walking (between 110-120 beats per music). Walking to this type of music bypasses the prefrontal cortex and encourages instinctive, relaxed movement. My gait improved almost immediately when I added the music. Walking is the best thing you can do, and adding the music makes it even better!
The 100mg ldopa from Madopar, is that 1 tablet (100/25) daily? Do you halve it or quarter it throughout the day?
And what % ldopa is in the mucuna? Do you take the powder or capsule?
And what does the Azilect help with?
Sorry so many questions. My husband was on Azilect but he couldn't handle it. He's now taking Madopar. Was weaned onto 3 x 100/25 daily, but after 2 days full dose he felt terrible (light headed, dizzy, so therefore difficulty walking or doing PD Warrior exercises) so we halved one tablet and gradually increased mucuna up to 1 teasp - works very well for him! Will gradually try same with other 2 Madopar doses but very interested in what works for you.
I feel azilect provides a background help for bradykinesia. I take two 50mg madopar capsules around 10.00, then one mucuna capsule around 1.30 and the other around 8. I don't have 'off' times, so I'm rather relaxed about timings. My mucuna is 15%. My aim is to swap more madopar for mucuna. I've just found a new supplier for mucuna near me in UK, so might change to his mucuna tincture.
I have been jogging, fast walking , biking or swimming almost every day for 42 years. I switched from jogging to fast walking when I had diskectomies 18 years ago. I did four miles a day, every day, in an hour. About the time I was diagnosed with PD five years ago I started having trouble with my legs, Pain, rubbery feeling...then I found myself slowing down. Can no longer walk fast, even on meds. I can do only 1.5 miles in half an hour, and not every day. So I added stationary bike to schedule, and found I could not go fast (80 paces per minute is what they recommend) for more than a few minutes at a time. So I bought a motorized stationary bike that forces me to go 90 paces a minute. (They have a study showing that even if you never push on the pedals it benefits you.) I push on the pedals and make it go even faster in intervals that add up to one-third of the time I'm on it. When I can, I walk for half an hour and do the bike for half an hour. When walking isn't feasible, I do the bike for an hour. Every day.
Sadly, while I almost always feel better after exercise, none of this has had any measurable effect on my PD. (My doc raised meds yesterday) I suppose you might argue that it would have progressed even faster had I not done all this exercise, but I find it pretty discouraging.
In my opinion, and as a result of my personal experience, you are doing too much exercise. I did 90 minutes in the gym, every day, six days a week for the next two ears after diagnosis. My condition continued to get worse, at a faster rate. after two years of that I gave up going to the gym and decided that the exercise was not doing me any good.
My late wife persuaded me to do the fast walking, for 3 days a week, starting for only 20 minutes a time, at the rate of ten and a half minutes a kilometre. Every second week I increased the time by 5 minutes until I reached one hour. All the time I had to walk as fast as I could. After four months of that regimen my condition had improved and my speed had improved to less than 9 minutes per kilometre. t continued to improve over the next four years to less than six and three quarters of a minute per kilometre.
At that time, I was 64 years old and nobody, other than a neurologist would ever have known that I had Pd.
Your muscles need time to recover from intensive exercise, and not allowing them to recover will have adverse effects o your condition.
The secret is to walk as fast as you can and do the following: Manage your stress levels, Have a positive attitude, do as much Brain exercise as you can and learn to use your conscious brain to control your movements.
If you want to learn more then go to my website - reverseparkinsons.net and contact me. I will send you as much information as possible at no charge to yourself.
are you aware of the need to start the fast walking for as long as YOU are able to keep it up? Don't go a second longer than the point at which you feel you cannot go any further. Walking slower than your fastest will not help you. If you can only manage 5 minutes, that is okay! do what you can for two weeks and then every second week see how much longer you can keep it up, and do that for the next two weeks. Keep that up until you get to 1 hour, at which point you only walk for one hour, three time a week, but keep on trying to go faster.
You will continue to feel stronger and healthier. It is a great feeling!
I have been fast walking since I was diagnosed in March 2016. Every other day for 2.5-3 miles at 4 mph. Still just on azilect and study drug inosine. Either it's the walking and weight lifting, my age (44), or whatever, I'll keep at it.
Tell me more about your walking. Do you concentrate on the actual leg and arm movements. Did you build up slowly over a period of time to get to that level? Do you walk at your fastest possible speed all the time? If you want to learn more about the fast walking then look at my website, reverseparkinsons.net and contact me. I will send you all the information, totally free.
I do not have a resting tremor. My tremors click in when I am trying to do some fine motor functions, especially when I am stressed. That means that the walking has not stopped this from happening but it has made me fitter and stronger and I no longer doubt that I can overcome that sort of problem. I avoid being with people who stress me. I avoid doing things that stress me and I know that I can overcome most things. I have a lot more confidence!
I know it can be PD but it can be ET, too. If I keep my left arm fully relaxed and at rest I have almost no tremor; but if I put it in gear and still at rest or do fine moving I get tremor. If I'm stressed the tremor amplifies. Did you have any tremor in any legs or feet? I had it very rarely when stressed and also very rarely I felt my right leg a little heavier still I start moving.
I don't know if ET is accompanied by lots of other Pd symptoms. Do you have any other Pd symptoms? My tremor is even worse now than it was when I was diagnosed. It certainly is seriously affected by stress. In fact, it only manifests itself when I am stressed, whereas it was present whenever I tried to perform any fine motor movements.
It started with REM few years ago (maybe 4--5 years) and then with RH intermittent tremor when I was stressed. The tremor intensified in March 2017 when my mother died and was followed by depression and anxiety. Rarely, when I'm stressed I feel some lead in my RH leg and eventual some foot tremor. But after I took a positive attitude , started exercising and Thiamine B1 the things improved. Regarding the tremor most of the time I can use the PC mouse after I started B1. But I got my clarity in my mind so I can do computer programming after last year I decided to retire. Also I'm trying to avoid confrontations as much as I can even one time I liked that to keep stress down.
Stress is our biggest enemy. Most of us can write and bring food to our mouths and walk properly if we are not stressed and can take time to do these things properly. It is when we are made to go faster and we lose our concentration that we have all these Pd problems. If we could only get rid of the stress we could all be fairly 'Normal'.
If we were to analyse exactly what stresses us, and then deal with that stress, we might make more headway with our daily lives. Unfortunately it is often PEOPLE who stress us more than anything else. How do we overcome the stress that we get from our children and/or parents? It is easier said than done! Sometimes we have to adopt the attitude that if we don't find a way to deal with the stress we will be overcome by the Pd. So we have to TALK to the people who are stressing us. We have to make it clear that either we sort the problems out or we won't be around too much longer and they will have to find other ways of sorting out their problems. I don't want to go into this too much, but you will all know what I am saying here.
Hi John, I tried to fast walk following some of your YouTube videos when both my legs felt as if they had been filled with lead. Amazingly, I found myself able to walk quite some distance, albeit not that fast, at a time when I had no energy to do any form of energetic exercise. I would like to thank you for showing me how to lift my heavy legs and get some exercises done during those very difficult days before I was formally diagnosed and put on medication. It has been 6 months now since I started taking L-dopa and my walking has improved both in speed and in posture. However, I do intend to contact you separately for some more advice as I still don't think I have totally got the hang of your method. Thank you again for sharing your experience with the world and offering me hope of coming off medication one day!
Hi Skydome. You are very welcome to skype me, but email me first to make sure I can make it. I live in South Africa, which is one hour ahead of England and Six hours ahead of New York. You can contact me via my website - reverseparkinsons.net.
I saw the neurologist in April and have not begun taking any prescribed medication.
I started fast walking only two weeks ago (after reading your book, thank you very much). My current time is 6.4 km/hour, which I have no trouble doing for a full hour. My speed is steadily increasing.
I can’t say what long term effects this program is having so far, obviously. However I can say the following: after walking I feel much better physically and mentally for a couple of hours. I wonder if the gap between times in which I “feel better” will gradually close.
It has been very difficult to maintain a swing in my right arm, and this has slowly been improving, even over only two weeks. On my walk yesterday it was much, much easier to swing, albeit still heavy.
Would you recommend sticking to this, or instead focus on increasing speed for some shorter duration?
I am surprised that you have been able to do one hour of fast walking, without any problems! Do you limit the walking to every second day? If not, I would strongly recommend that you do. Your muscles need a day to recover from strenuous exercise!
Do you understand what I mean by 'Conscious control of movement'? When you concentrate on the actual movements of your legs and arms, instead of 'willing' them to move, you will overcome the arm problems. You will also find that you will walk better when you concentrate on landing on the heel of the front leg, holding the toes of that foot up in the air at about 30 degrees. You will also find that if you are carrying the full weight of your body on the ball of the back foot, with the heel right up off the ground as you PUSH forward, then your walk will be much better. Lastly, be aware of what your hips are doing. You can take a longer step if you pivot your hip forward on the front leg side.
Last but not least. I carry a one kilogram weight in each hand to help me swing my arms. Try it!
I do understand what you mean by “conscious control”. It is just very difficult to swing my arm; it feels very heavy and maintaining rhythm with my walk is also a challenge. It gets out of sync. If I focus too much on the arm swing then my walk speed tends to suffer a bit.
Can you say more about hip movement? Do you rotate your pelvis / hips consciously as you walk? I find this to be difficult to monitor as these motions are subtle. I do study my movements, comparing right and left (my left side seems normal) and try to maintain symmetry.
Hi Rujack. There is so much to tell you about the fast walling that is not feasible in this forum. That is why I ask everybody to go to my website so that I can send them a huge amount of useful information. So, please go to reverseparkinsons.net and contact me. It costs nothing and can help make the difference between failure and success. My videos answer most of your questions but I don't mention the pelvis swing because it is something I have added more recently. I swing the hip/pelvis bone to give me a longer stride, which translate into faster times.
I’ve actually studied your web site quite thoroughl (perhaps I still missed something), watched your videos, and read your book! I thank you very much for making them all!
First everyone replying to and following John Pepper needs to understand he does not have nor has he ever had Parkinson's. Second, the latest research on exercise in patients with Parkinson's directly contradicts his recommendation. Exercise studies for PwPD abound, but the most thorough and recent study that was actually randomized and controlled found that only patients who achieved 80 to 85% max heart rate 4 times a week were able to stop the progression of PD. Patients that walked did not. People with PD are prone to a "placebo" effect and will often report initial benefit from many if not most treatments. It is the longterm results and scientifically proven results that matter.
-
-
The absolute latest research says if you want to slow or stop the progression of Parkinson's and you are able to run on a treadmill, then running 4 times a week at 80% to 85% max heart rate for 30 minutes with a 5 minute warmup and a 5 minute warm down is actually PROVEN to work to halt the progression of Parkinson's.
-
Fast Walking is NOT scientifically proven to halt the progression of Parkinson's
-
Effect of High-Intensity Treadmill Exercise on Motor Symptoms in Patients With De Novo Parkinson Disease: A Phase 2 Randomized Clinical Trial
Now having said all that I will add not everyone can run on a treadmill and in that case ANY exercise is better than no exercise, and there are dozens of studies of other forms of exercise that have shown this over and over again. Move it, or lose it.
-
If you really want a regimen that has the potential to stop your progression I urge you to read my post. I have a genetic diagnosis of SCA1 not PD. SCA1 is similar to PD but far more virulent and fast acting and always fatal, but somehow I have stopped my symptoms from progressing and I use zero medication and am living a 100% normal life.
-
I want to note that people with PD should know that the latest research is honing in on the mis-folding of alpha-synuclein as the root cause of ALL PD and that is HUGE and critical to understand because stopping the damage from and cleaning out mis-folded proteins from the brain MAY be the key to a "cure" for all forms of PD. ( prothena.com/pipeline/prx002/ )
-
Bottom line I really do have a neurological disease that should by rights have me using a walker at my age, and here is what I am doing that has stopped my progression for now:
Firstly, your statement that I do not have Pd is absolute nonsense! You have not examined e, that is if you are a neurologist, which I am sure you are not. Secondly, you say I never had Pd. How do you know?
You have the temerity to claim "only patients who achieved 80 to 85% max heart rate 4 times a week were able to stop the progression of PD. Patients that walked did not" is a load of rubbish! I guarantee that my heart rate is at least 80 to 85% of maximum heart rate when I am walking at 7 kilometres an hour at the age of 83. I manage to keep that up for one hour, three times a week.
For a man who does not even have Pd you have no right whatsoever of making the claims you have.
As with others, I am wary of your motives for attacking me. Everybody knows who I am. I don't hide behind a nom de plume.
-Anyone can do a simple search online and realize that you do not nor have ever had PD. This topic has been discussed over and over on this forum, but somehow you keep reappearing. It is truly a tragedy of the internet that people like you are given a voice and that some sorry fool will listen. I do not have a "nom de plume". I have not created my own website or page because my disease is inheritable, and I do not want my children to know or start worrying whether they have it or not since it is a late onset illness. Use the search function or click on my screen name above, and you will find a wealth of links that I have provided. My name is Joseph A. Peck. Had you clicked on the link I provided at the end of my post you would have read that. In addition you can find my public FaceBook bio here:
You overcame an adversity in your own life, but I beg you to realize that you are providing the PD community with unscientific advice.
-
I also beg the forgiveness of the internet community for my absolute lack of civility online, but I am a Dartmouth grad with a Magna Cum Laude and I believe I have real potential answers. I am 52, dying of a serious disease that I may have passsed off to my children, and I am simply done suffering fools. People like John Pepper create noise online that is difficult to overcome. Call me an ass, I have thick skin and it really won't bother me, but understand that walking fast is helpful, but not a solution.
-
John -
-
If you are serious then I am willing to have a scientific debate. Did you read the study, and if so what piece of the study I linked above do you believe was wrong and why? I did not have the "temerity" to claim anything. I pointed to the most recent scientific research on exercise and Parkinson's. In that study that is the conclusion they drew using scientific methods. Again, did you read the study? Can you comment on it?
-
-
I would also note that people who tried JPs protocol have emailed me so I am not wholly ignorant of the advice he gives via email.
Hi Joseph. You might be an airline pilot, but so is my son, but he does not claim to know everything about Pd, as you do. You are in the habit of TELLING PEOPLE what to do. This is not a trip in an aircraft this is a public debate forum and you are not in charge of it. Your training will have made you aware that a lot of plane crashes have been caused by PILOT ERROR! In fact, I think that MOST CRASHES are caused by PILOT ERROR. Think carefully about what you claim in your post t me.
Whereabouts online do you see any EVIDENCE that I do not have Pd?
If 'sunvox is not a 'nom de plume' then what is?
You speak about 'Your disease being inheritable'. Are you talking about Pd? Are you afraid of passing your Pd onto your children? Should we all hide our Pd from our children?
You claim that I am passing on 'Scientific advice'. I do not claim to be a scientist. I make it very clear that I am a Pd patient with over 50 years of pd experience. What I tell people here is my own experience, nothing else. Many people tell me that they have learned a lot more about Pd from me than they ever did from their doctors. All knowledge is based on experience. That is where knowledge comes from. I tell everybody what I have done and what the results have been.
Please let us all know what scientific studies have proven that high intensity prolonged exercise has no effect on the progression of Pd.
As I have to read an enormous amount of information every day on this and other sites and on emails I receive in large numbers every day, please tell me to which 'Study' you refer to. Scientific studies can be very misleading. If they set out to prove or disprove a given question then all well and good. The real question is,"Are they asking the RIGHT QUESTIONS?"
Has anybody done a study on what type of exercise causes the brain to produce the most GDNF? I know that GDNF is all but ignored in the quest to find ways of treating Pd, but they are only interested in trying to insert artificial GDNF into the brain. THE BRAIN NATURALLY PRODUCES GDNF, SO WHY NOT FIND OUT WHAT CAUSES THE BRAIN TO PRODUCE GDNF and then find ways to get it to produce more. That is not a CURE for Pd but if a lot more people can improve their Pd symptoms as I have then we would all gain by this.
Tell us all what you have done to HELP other Pd patients on this forum?
Yes! I am aware of that. When I am being attacked I would rather carry on a robust discussion by email. If you or anybody wants t attack me or what I say then I like to know who it is I am up against. Hiding behind a nom de plume makes it easy to make outrageous statements and not fear any reprisals.
I guess fast walk beside producing BDNF or GDNF , regulates insulin sensitivity which many PwP has difficulty.That’s why we feel good after a walk.We practically lowering our blood sugar with walk specially after meal.
“The researchers found that when the participants walked for 10 minutes after each meal, their blood sugar levels were an average of 12% lower than when they took a single 30-minute walk each day. Taking a short walk after dinner showed the greatest benefit on blood glucose, particularly when the meal contained a lot of carbohydrate, lowering blood sugar levels by 22% compared to taking a single daily walk.”
Three 15-min Bouts of Moderate Postmeal Walking Significantly Improves 24-h Glycemic Control in Older People at Risk for Impaired Glucose Tolerance
JohnPepper, my good friend, does walking briskly behind a self-propelled lawn mower while cutting the grass count? I get about a half hour a week that way!
Hi Bassofspades, I believe that sex is good for Pd, but have no way of proving it.
However, if you seriously want to find a way of POSSIBLY helping to deal with your Pd then look at my PROFILE or go to my website - reverseparkinsons.net and contact me. will send you everything you need to know about what I did to overcome many of my movement symptoms at no cost at all. None of the things I did cost me anything, just a bit of effort and self-belief.
I have not tried fast walking yet but I would like to how do I get started? I am 61 diagnosed 1 year ago. I do yoga 3 times a week and boxing training 3 times a week. only med i take is selegiline 5mg 2 times a day
What you are doing all sounds good. None of what you do will produce GDNF in your brain, which repairs the damaged brain cells. That is my take on what has happened to me. Did you look at my PROFILE and my website?
Hi There, I’m sorry there are negative posts about your success with PD and your book . I believe exercise is the best for everyone and if your regimen helps just one person it’s a success. That being said , I am a female ultra runner with PD. Running for 20 years and have had PD for 5. My first signs were not tremors it was freezing , dystonia . While I dislike all the cd/ld I need, if I didn’t have it I would not be running let alone walking . I will buy your book and read and maybe incoprste some of your regimen with mine . I appreciate anyone who has different ideas . Thank upu.
Hi Kwinholt. Thanks for the support. You will find in my book that for the first two years after diagnosis I increased my gym classes to 90 minutes every day, sis days of the week, plus, I took sinemet and symmetrel. As my Pd got much worse under that regimen I stopped and my late wife begged me to do the fast walking, because it had helped her to lose weight and come off her Blood pressure and antidepressant pills.
I came off the sinemet and symmetrel and went onto an MAOb inhibitor and started the fast walking. Within four months my condition started to improve and had not stopped doing so ever since.
Too much of the WRONG EXERCISE is sometimes worse than NO EXERCISE. All Medication is TOXIC!
Long time no correspond😃. Diagnosed May 2015,male,60
Because of sore feet,I stopped walking and go on the elliptical 4x week at 30 minutes, 90% of heart rate. Still in stage 1, some recent progression of tremor.
Hi John, Shortly after a DaT scan and subsequent diagnosis of Pd (9/17), I found this website and took heart from your experiences with fast walking. I immediately put a five hour per week exercise regimen in place focusing principally on Pd boxing and spinning classes rather than prolonged outdoor walking (I live on the Canadian border in snowy Upstate NY). By taking only rasagiline, I would say I have maintained the impression of motor normalcy. But I do have non-motor cognitive symptoms like anger, indecisiveness, and regular anxiety about recalling proper nouns. At my age (81) some of this is normal. But PDD is the beast I fear the most. Do you have any soothing news regarding challenging exercise and Pd mental health? Anna1060
y on itHi Anna. I am no exercise expert but what I am sure of is the following:
1. If I do the fast walking every day, I lose muscle because my muscles eat themselves up, in order to get the energy they need to do what you are making them do.
2. The cause of reversal of symptoms is the production of GDNF, which repairs the damaged brain cells and gives me more dopamine. This I cannot prove because nobody is doing any study on it. Why would they do that if it helps us to get better and take less or no medication?
3. It took me eight years to come off my medication, but during all that time I was slowly getting better, not worse.
4. My fine motor symptoms improved the best while my non motor symptoms did not get worse.
5. I have been able to learn how to overcome many symptoms by concentrating on what I am doing.
Love you, John! You give people hope and encouragement, which is what PWP need! I wish the ‘downer’ folks would stay off this site. We don’t need their negativity. Keep up the good work! ❤️😘
I was diagnosed with PD five years ago. Since I found out about your book, I bought it and started walking after a good read. On average, I was walking 3 days a week over the last five years. When I travelled oversea, one month a year, I didn't walk most of the time. When I came back to Australia, I started again. I have contacted you before regarding my experiences and you suggested me to walk with a wider stride. I followed you but my problem is when the Sinemet is 'ON' I am walking normal, whether I follow your technique or not. When the Sinemt is "OFF", I am shuffling on my left leg. I feel better after fast walking or doing exercises at gym. However, my symptoms are slowly getting worse, especially this year. I am still walking 3 days a week in the mornings about 5km which takes me 52 to 55mins. Until last year, I didn't feel like I have PD. I had slight tremor on my left hand when doing fine movement and shuffling left leg, slow movement only. This year I am getting slower and hard to roll to my sides in bed and freezing sometimes, especially at L'dopa off time. Do you have any suggestions? I will keep walking as long as I can move because I believe in it.
Hi maungwin. My guess is that you have not taken 'Conscious Control' of your walking. You are walking as fast as you can but you are still willing your legs to move, not TELLING THEM to move.
When you are in the "OFF" state you can consciously walk, but not subconsciously. This is difficultfor me to explain on my keyboard. Let me try another way.
When you are in the "off" state you find it hard to move, but if you stand still and put your weight onto your left leg see how far you can stick your right leg out in front of you.
If, as I am prepared to bet, you can stick it out quite far in front of you, it is further than when you are walking. Right?
You have to get used to doing the fast walking by CONSIOUSLY STICKING YOUR LEGS OUT AS FAR AS YOU CAN AND DOING SO FOR EVERY STEP.
Thanks for your reply John. Your guess is right. I did not conciously walking because I was not feeling very hard to walk normal even without medication until last year. Including fast walking, I also join PD warrior class and work out in gym too. As you said, my right leg can be stuck out further. It is hard for me to conciously control my steps all 5KM distance. Normally, for the first 3km , I am walking normal and the last 2 km, I walked with difficulty, meaning started shuffling. At that time, my mind started to focus more on the left leg and I remind myself to step wider and land with heel first. Should I try to start all over with concious mind before taking any medicine for the day?
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Considering DBS. If you have had it, your input is greatly appreciated
New study on benefits of fast walking (confirms John Pepper's protocol)
Thank you everyone
