“
James Parkinson. George Huntington. Robert Graves. John Down. Now this Lou Gehrig fellow of mine. How did men come to monopolize disease names too?
”
”
Khaled Hosseini (And the Mountains Echoed)
“
Without the quest, there can be no epiphany.
”
”
Constantine E. Scaros (Reflections on a Simple Twist of Fate: Literature, Art and Parkinson's Disease)
“
To be brutally honest, for much of that time, I was the only person in the world with Parkinson's. Of course, I mean that in the abstract. I had become acutely aware of people around me who appears to have the symptoms of Parkinson's disease, but as long as they didn't identify with me, I was in no rush to identify with them. My situation allowed, if not complete denial, at least a thick padding of insulation.
”
”
Michael J. Fox (Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist)
“
One's dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but cannot be taken away unless it is surrendered.
”
”
Michael J. Fox (Saving Milly: Love, Politics, and Parkinson's Disease (Ballantine Reader's Circle))
“
Depression can be due to a low endocrine function, nutritional deficiencies, blood sugar problems, food allergies, or systemic yeast infection. Depression can also result from medical illnesses such as stroke, heart attack, cancer, Parkinson's disease, and hormonal disorder. It can also be caused by a serious loss, a difficult relationship, a financial problem, or any stressful, unwelcome life change.
”
”
Chris Prentiss (The Alcoholism and Addiction Cure: A Holistic Approach to Total Recovery)
“
The other day as I was stepping out of Star Grocery on Claremont Avenue with some pork ribs under my arm, the Berkeley sky cloudless, a smell of jasmine in the air, a car driving by with its window rolled down, trailing a sweet ache of the Allman Brothers' "Melissa," it struck me that in order to have reached only the midpoint of my life I will need to live to be 92. That's pretty old. If you live to be ninety-two, you've done well for yourself. I'd like to be optimistic, and I try to take care of my health, but none of my grandparents even made it past 76, three killed by cancer, one by Parkinson's disease. If I live no longer than any of them did, I have at most thirty years left, which puts me around sixty percent of the way through my time.
I am comfortable with the idea of mortality, or at least I always have been, up until now. I never felt the need to believe in heaven or an afterlife. It has been decades since I stopped believing-a belief that was never more than fitful and self-serving to begin with-in the possibility of reincarnation of the soul. I'm not totally certain where I stand on the whole "soul" question. Though I certainly feel as if I possess one, I'm inclined to disbelieve in its existence. I can live with that contradiction, as with the knowledge that my time is finite, and growing shorter by the day. It's just that lately, for the first time, that shortening has become perceptible. I can feel each tiny skyward lurch of the balloon as another bag of sand goes over the side of my basket.
”
”
Michael Chabon
“
James Parkinson. George Huntington. Robert Graves. John Down. Now this Lou Gehrig fellow of mine. How did men come to monopolize disease names too?” I blink and my mother blinks back, and then she is laughing and so am I. Even as I crumple inside.
”
”
Khaled Hosseini (And the Mountains Echoed)
“
The next time you are imagining the worst, look up the definition of imagination.
”
”
Robert Lyman Baittie (Tremors in the Universe: A Personal Journey of Discovery with Parkinson’s Disease and Spirituality)
“
I needed a time machine. I needed to run around the past and gather up all the old, unbroken parts of me and try to Frankenstein myself back together again. My healthy body, my unjaded sixteen-year-old heart, my baby brain. I may not make such a pretty monster, but at least I'd feel like myself again.
”
”
Anne Clendening (Bent: How Yoga Saved My Ass)
“
Her cells were part of research into the genes that cause cancer and those that suppress it; they helped develop drugs for treating herpes, leukemia, influenza, hemophilia, and Parkinson’s disease; and they’ve been used to study lactose digestion, sexually transmitted diseases, appendicitis, human longevity, mosquito mating, and the negative cellular effects of working in sewers.
”
”
Rebecca Skloot (The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks)
“
If you don’t drink coffee, you should think about two to four cups a day. It can make you more alert, happier, and more productive. It might even make you live longer. Coffee can also make you more likely to exercise, and it contains beneficial antioxidants and other substances associated with decreased risk of stroke (especially in women), Parkinson’s disease, and dementia. Coffee is also associated with decreased risk of abnormal heart rhythms, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers.12, 13 Any one of those benefits of coffee would be persuasive, but cumulatively they’re a no-brainer. An hour ago I considered doing some writing for this book, but I didn’t have the necessary energy or focus to sit down and start working. I did, however, have enough energy to fix myself a cup of coffee. A few sips into it, I was happier to be working than I would have been doing whatever lazy thing was my alternative. Coffee literally makes me enjoy work. No willpower needed. Coffee also allows you to manage your energy levels so you have the most when you need it. My experience is that coffee drinkers have higher highs and lower lows, energywise, than non–coffee drinkers, but that trade-off works. I can guarantee that my best thinking goes into my job, while saving my dull-brain hours for household chores and other simple tasks. The biggest downside of coffee is that once you get addicted to caffeine, you can get a “coffee headache” if you go too long without a cup. Luckily, coffee is one of the most abundant beverages on earth, so you rarely have to worry about being without it. Coffee costs money, takes time, gives you coffee breath, and makes you pee too often. It can also make you jittery and nervous if you have too much. But if success is your dream and operating at peak mental performance is something you want, coffee is a good bet. I highly recommend it. In fact, I recommend it so strongly that I literally feel sorry for anyone who hasn’t developed the habit.
”
”
Scott Adams (How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life)
“
An apple a day might have kept the doctor away prior to the industrialization of food growing and
preparation. But, according to research compiled by the United States Drug Administration (USDA) today’s apple contains residue of eleven different neurotoxins—azinphos, methyl chloripyrifos, diazinon, dimethoate, ethion, omthoate, parathion, parathion methyl, phosalone, and phosmet — and the USDA was testing for only one category of chemicals known as organophosphate insecticides. That doesn’t sound too appetizing does it? The average apple is sprayed with pesticides seventeen times before it is harvested.
”
”
Michelle Schoffro Cook (The Brain Wash: A Powerful, All-Natural Program to Protect Your Brain Against Alzheimer's, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Depression, Parkinson's, and Other Diseases)
“
Scientists induced Parkinson’s in rats by killing the dopamine cells in their basal ganglia, and then forced half of them to run on a treadmill twice a day in the ten days following the “onset” of the disease. Incredibly, the runners’ dopamine levels stayed within normal ranges and their motor skills didn’t deteriorate. In one study on people with Parkinson’s, intensive activity improved motor ability as well as mood, and the positive effects lasted for at least six weeks after they stopped exercising.
”
”
John J. Ratey (Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain)
“
We have some very suggestive evidence that the use of pesticides and herbicides affects our mental function and brain physiology, including increasing the incidence of Parkinson’s disease up to seven times in those most heavily exposed to them. This is not exactly a surprise when we realize that pesticides are designed to be neurotoxic to the pests.
”
”
Gabriel Cousens (Conscious Parenting: The Holistic Guide to Raising and Nourishing Healthy, Happy Children)
“
smokers were three times less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease than nonsmokers.
”
”
Rahul Jandial (Life Lessons From A Brain Surgeon: Practical Strategies for Peak Health and Performance)
“
The more I read on Parkinson’s, the more I discovered just how unwieldy and elusive it was; a sprawling tree of disease with each branch detailing a possible symptom or consequence.
”
”
Jessica George (Maame)
“
different parts of the brain as it thinks. By tracing the path taken by our thoughts, MRI scans have shed new light into the nature of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, schizophrenia, and a host of other mental diseases.
”
”
Michio Kaku (The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance, and Empower the Mind)
“
realized while I was announcing myself to the group that I was conceding something profound: that the diagnosis marked an irreversible change in my identity, the moment that one version of me ended and another version
”
”
Jon Palfreman (Brain Storms: The Race to Unlock the Mysteries of Parkinson's Disease)
“
Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, memory loss, and neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s and ALS can all be prevented by fruit. That’s because not only does fruit prevent these diseases, it prevents oxidation—which is the process that ages us. It
”
”
Anthony William (Medical Medium: Secrets Behind Chronic and Mystery Illness and How to Finally Heal)
“
Fear is a bastard. Fear is an attention whore. I want to ask fear if it has mommy issues, because that’s the only reason I can think why it needs attention so bad. I want fear to get Parkinson’s. Then maybe fear will know how it feels to be on the run from something it doesn’t understand.
”
”
Anne Clendening (Bent: How Yoga Saved My Ass)
“
Life is not meant to be a montage of catastrophes. It’s also not a giant prison, and neither are these bizarre, meaty casings we are housed in for the time being. And they’d make terrible ones anyway. These bodies aren’t exactly built to last. They get sick and get old and fall apart. But truth is, the me that is me is not the sick one here. And I refuse to feel imprisoned.
”
”
Anne Clendening (Bent: How Yoga Saved My Ass)
“
As if the pandemic weren’t tragic enough, in the decade that followed, a million people came down with a serious Parkinson’s-like disease termed “encephalitis lethargica,” the subject of the book and movie Awakenings.232 Some researchers now consider this epidemic of neurological disease to be “almost certainly” a direct consequence of viral damage to the brains of survivors.
”
”
Michael Greger (How to Survive a Pandemic)
“
The company takes a strong view against psychotherapy for executives because it denotes unhappiness, and unhappiness is a disgraceful social disease for which there is no excuse or forgiveness. Cancer, pernicious anemia, and diabetes are just fine, and even people with multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease may continue to go far in the company until they are no longer allowed to go on at all. But unhappiness is fatal. If my daughter or son were to commit suicide, that would be overlooked, because children do things like that, and that's the way kids are. But if my wife were to jump to her death without a prior record of psychiatric disturbance, did it only because she was unhappy, my chances for further advancement would be over. I'd be ruined.
”
”
Joseph Heller (Something Happened)
“
While L-dopa was vastly superior to what came before, the drug fell far short of being a cure. On the one hand, the L-dopa allowed “frozen” wheelchair-bound individuals to walk again and increased patients’ life expectancy. On the other hand, virtually all patients taking levodopa were sentenced to future disabling motor complications. And that’s as true today as it was in 1970.
”
”
Jon Palfreman (Brain Storms: The Race to Unlock the Mysteries of Parkinson's Disease)
“
People with Parkinson’s are very lucky to have L-dopa. There is no equivalent therapy for other neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Whatever its limitations, L-dopa turned Parkinson’s from a condition in which victims experienced a rapid slide toward immobility and death into a chronic disease with a gradual trajectory of decline. A
”
”
Jon Palfreman (Brain Storms: The Race to Unlock the Mysteries of Parkinson's Disease)
“
By far the most important fat for brain energy utilization is beta-hydroxybutyrate (beta-HBA), and we’ll explore this unique fat in more detail in the next chapter. This is why the so-called ketogenic diet has been a treatment for epilepsy since the early 1920s and is now being reevaluated as a very powerful therapeutic option in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease,
”
”
David Perlmutter (Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers)
“
Science is being corrupted by the influence of corporate money. This corruption is leading directly to our poor health, whether it be the epidemic of obesity; neurological diseases like autism, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and multiple sclerosis; the explosion of cancers; or mental problems among the young, including school shooters. There are some who claim this is leading to a culling, if not the mass extinction, of humanity.
”
”
Kent Heckenlively (Plague of Corruption: Restoring Faith in the Promise of Science)
“
There is a parallel concept known as “movement reserve” that becomes relevant with Parkinson’s disease. People with better movement patterns, and a longer history of moving their bodies, such as trained or frequent athletes, tend to resist or slow the progression of the disease as compared to sedentary people. This is also why movement and exercise, not merely aerobic exercise but also more complex activities like boxing workouts, are a primary treatment/prevention strategy for Parkinson’s. Exercise is the only intervention shown to delay the progression of Parkinson’s.
”
”
Peter Attia (Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity)
“
ASPARTAME AND MSG: EXCITOTOXINS Aspartame is, in fact, an excitotoxin, one of a group of substances, usually acidic amino acids, that in high amounts react with specialized receptors in the brain, causing destruction of certain types of neurons. A growing number of neurosurgeons and neurologists are convinced that excitotoxins play a critical role in the development of several neurological disorders, including migraines, seizures, learning disorders in children, and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).1 Glutamate and aspartate are two powerful amino acids that act as neurotransmitters in the brain in very small concentrations, but they are also commonly available in food additives. Glutamate is in MSG, a flavor enhancer, and in hydrolyzed vegetable protein, found in hundreds of processed foods. Aspartate is one of three components of aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal), a sugar substitute. In higher concentrations as food additives, these chemicals constantly stimulate brain cells and can cause them to undergo a process of cell death known as excitotoxicity—the cells are excited to death.
”
”
Carolyn Dean (The Magnesium Miracle (Revised and Updated))
“
How often are people told they’ve brought a condition like depression upon themselves? It’s all part of mercury’s blame-the-victim game. Those depressive symptoms are the mercury speaking for the patient without her or his consent. Sometimes mercury moves past the hostage phase and takes someone out, resulting in death by Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, dementia, or stroke. It’s that serious. Mercury has injured or killed well over a billion people. No one likes Alzheimer’s; it’s a frightening, terrible disease. Yet it’s rapidly becoming common—and it’s 100 percent mercury-caused. You heard that here first: Mercury is 100 percent responsible for Alzheimer’s disease. You will never in your lifetime hear the truth about that anywhere else.
”
”
Anthony William (Medical Medium: Secrets Behind Chronic and Mystery Illness and How to Finally Heal)
“
I have referred to it as a gift--something for which others with this affliction have taken me to task. I was only speaking from my own experience, of course, but I stand partially corrected: if it is a gift, it's the gift that just keeps on taking.
Coping with relentless assault and the accumulating damage is not easy. Nobody would ever choose to have this visited upon them. Still, this unexpected crisis forced a fundamental life decision: adopt a siege mentality--or embark upon a journey. Whatever it was--courage? acceptance? wisdom?--that finally allowed me to go down the second road (after spending a few disastrous years on the first) was unquestionably a gift--and absent this neurophysiological catastrophe, I would never have opened it, or been so profoundly enriched. That's why I consider myself a lucky man.
”
”
Michael J. Fox (Lucky Man)
“
Specifically, damage to the left hemisphere can free up the creative capabilities of the right hemisphere. More generally, when one neural circuit in the brain is turned off, another circuit, which was inhibited by the inactivated circuit, may turn on. Scientists have also uncovered some surprising links between disorders that appear to be unrelated because they are characterized by dramatically different kinds of behavior. Several disorders of movement and of memory, such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, result from misfolded proteins. The symptoms of these disorders vary widely because the particular proteins affected and the functions for which they are responsible differ. Similarly, both autism and schizophrenia involve synaptic pruning, the removal of excess dendrites on neurons. In autism, not enough dendrites are pruned, whereas in schizophrenia too many are.
”
”
Eric R. Kandel (The Disordered Mind: What Unusual Brains Tell Us About Ourselves)
“
The connection between dopamine and belief was established by experiments conducted by Peter Brugger and his colleague Christine Mohr at the University of Bristol in England. Exploring the neurochemistry of superstition, magical thinking, and belief in the paranormal, Brugger and Mohr found that people with high levels of dopamine are more likely to find significance in coincidences and pick out meaning and patterns where there are none. In one study, for example, they compared twenty self-professed believers in ghosts, gods, spirits, and conspiracies to twenty self-professed skeptics of such claims. They showed all subjects a series of slides consisting of people’s faces, some of which were normal while others had their parts scrambled, such as swapping out eyes or ears or noses from different faces. In another experiment, real and scrambled words were flashed. In general, the scientists found that the believers were much more likely than the skeptics to mistakenly assess a scrambled face as real, and to read a scrambled word as normal.
In the second part of the experiment, Brugger and Mohr gave all forty subjects L-dopa, the drug used for Parkinson’s disease patients that increases the levels of dopamine in the brain. They then repeated the slide show with the scrambled or real faces and words. The boost of dopamine caused both believers and skeptics to identify scrambled faces and real and jumbled words as normal. This suggests that patternicity may be associated with high levels of dopamine in the brain. Intriguingly, the effect of L-dopa was stronger on skeptics than believers. That is, increased levels of dopamine appear to be more effective in making skeptics less skeptical than in making believers more believing.8 Why? Two possibilities come to mind: (1) perhaps the dopamine levels of believers are already higher than those of skeptics and so the latter will feel the effects of the drug more; or (2) perhaps the patternicity proclivity of believers is already so high that the effects of the dopamine are lower than those of skeptics. Additional research shows that people who profess belief in the paranormal—compared to skeptics—show a greater tendency to perceive “patterns in noise,”9 and are more inclined to attribute meaning to random connections they believe exist.
”
”
Michael Shermer (The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths)
“
COULD IT BE B12 DEFICIENCY? The neurological symptoms of B12 deficiency that occur in young and middle-aged people are very similar to those in older people. They include the following: • Numbness, tingling, or burning sensations of the hands, feet, extremities, or truncal area, often misdiagnosed as diabetic neuropathy or chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) • Tremor, often misdiagnosed as essential tremor or pre-Parkinson’s disease • Muscle weakness, paresthesias, and paralysis, sometimes attributed to Guillain-Barré syndrome • Pain, fatigue, and debility, often labeled as “chronic fatigue syndrome” • “Shaky leg” syndrome (leg trembling) • Confusion and mental fogginess, often misdiagnosed as early-onset dementia • Unsteadiness, dizziness, and paresthesias, often misdiagnosed as multiple sclerosis • Weakness of extremities, clumsiness, muscle cramps, twitching, or foot drop, often misdiagnosed as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) • Psychiatric symptoms, such as depression or psychosis (covered in greater length in the next chapter) • Visual disturbances, vision loss, or blindness In contrast, a doctor ignorant about the effects of B12 deficiency can destroy a patient’s life. The
”
”
Sally M. Pacholok (Could It Be B12?: An Epidemic of Misdiagnoses)
“
The ability to draw a connection between two things that had previously appeared to be unrelated is an important part of creativity, and it appears that it can be enhanced by electrical stimulation. Compared to participants who were given fake tDCS, those who got electricity created more unusual analogies—that is, analogies between things that seemed very unlike one another. Nevertheless, these highly creative analogies were just as accurate as the more obvious ones created by the participants whose devices were secretly turned off. Dopaminergic drugs can do the same thing. Although some patients who take dopaminergic drugs for Parkinson’s disease develop devastating compulsions, others experience enhanced creativity. One patient who came from a family of poets had never done any creative writing. After starting dopamine-boosting drugs for his Parkinson’s disease, he wrote a poem that won the annual contest of the International Association of Poets. Painters treated with Parkinson’s medication often increase their use of vivid color. One patient who developed a new style after being treated said, “The new style is less precise but more vibrant. I have a need to express myself more. I just let myself go.” Just like Winnie-the-Pooh: “It is the best way to write poetry, letting things come.
”
”
Daniel Z. Lieberman (The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity―and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race)
“
In addition to the conditions it already affects, free radical damage is now being linked to hypertension, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, leukemia, Parkinson’s disease, congestive heart failure, and irritable bowel disease.
”
”
Steven Lamm (The Hardness Factor: How to Achieve Your Best Health and Sexual Fitness at Any Age)
“
Comedian Robin Williams was grappling with severe depression when he committed suicide Monday, and on Thursday we learned that he also was in the early stages of Parkinson's disease. Sadly, the two conditions are often found together.
”
”
Anonymous
“
undergoing anaesthetic-free root canal treatment at the hands of a drunk, Parkinson’s Disease-suffering dentist, for instance. Would have been a treat compared with this agony of bristling, embarrassed silence.
”
”
Tracy Engelbrecht (The Girl Who Couldn't Say No)
“
It has the ability to repair and regenerate neurons in your body, resulting in improved overall cognitive function, and lion’s mane has been known to reverse and mitigate the effects of such neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and dementia, among others.
”
”
Tero Isokauppila (Healing Mushrooms: A Practical and Culinary Guide to Using Mushrooms for Whole Body Health)
“
The substantia nigra is a ganglia that is particularly responsible for the interpretation and coordination of the overall sensory information coming from the muscle spindles and the tendon organs. The totality of this information is crucial to assessing and controlling the changes in lengths of the body’s muscles, the speed with which a movement is occurring, and the actual work-load that is being handled. This, remember, is sensory information that we do not “feel” in the normal sense, but when it is incomplete or scrambled, fine control of movement becomes seriously hampered. The step becomes unsteady, the reach inaccurate; motions become jerky; the limbs may tremble or even oscillate grossly in their attempt to find the correct lengths and speeds. These aberrations are among the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, a syndrome which appears when the substantia nigra is damaged in any way. Thus the substantia nigra adds to the brain’s overall arousal the specific messages coming from all of the spindles and tendon organs: Which exact motor units are lengthening or shortening, how fast are these changes in length taking place, and how much force is being developed?
”
”
Deane Juhan (Job's Body: A Handbook for Bodywork)
“
It is possible that drinking three or four cups of coffee a day may protect against Alzheimer’s, as it was shown to protect against Parkinson’s.
”
”
Valter Longo (The Longevity Diet: Discover the New Science Behind Stem Cell Activation and Regeneration to Slow Aging, Fight Disease, and Optimize Weight)
“
fuzzy whiskers—they were comparable to genes in humans, having links to Parkinson’s disease, depression, bipolar disorder, and others. The degree of gene disruption was so profound, head researcher Fernando Gomez-Pinilla commented in the UCLA release: “Food is like a pharmaceutical compound” in terms of its effect on the brain. But that power also swings in the other direction—the negative impact that fructose had on both cognition and gene expression was attenuated by feeding the rats DHA omega-3 fat.
”
”
Max Lugavere (Genius Foods: Become Smarter, Happier, and More Productive While Protecting Your Brain for Life (Genius Living Book 1))
“
Get in agreement with God
In the Bible, David said, “Lift up your head and the King of glory will come in.” As long as your head is down and you are discouraged, with no joy, no passion, and no zeal, the King of glory will not come.
Instead, get up in the morning and say, “Father, thank you for another day. Thank you for another sunrise. I’m excited about this day.” When you’re really alive, hopeful, grateful, passionate, and productive, then the King of glory, the most high God, will come in. He’ll make a way where it looks like there is no way.
We all face difficulties. We have unfair things happen. Don’t let it sour your life. I heard the saying, “Trouble is inevitable but misery is optional.” Just because you had a bad break doesn’t mean your life is over.
I know a popular minister who led his church for many years and was such a great speaker he was in constant demand. But a few years ago, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. He eventually lost the ability to speak. He had to resign from his church. He once was so eloquent, strong, and vibrant, but it looked as if his career was over. It looked as if his best days were behind him.
But just when things started to look really bad for him, he sent me a manuscript with a note: “Joel, as you know, I can’t speak anymore, so I’ve taken up writing. Here’s a look at my newest book.”
Just because you can’t do what you used to do doesn’t mean you’re supposed to sit on the sidelines. If you can’t speak, write. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t stand up, just sit up. If you can’t dance, shake your head. If you can’t sing, tap your foot. Do whatever you can do. As long as you have breath you have something in you. Don’t lose your passion.
Think about the apostle Paul: he was thrown in prison at the peak of his career. Just when it was all coming together he had this major disappointment. Paul could have become depressed and thought: “Too bad for me.” He could have given up on his dreams. Instead, he kept his passion.
While in prison, he wrote more than half of the New Testament. What looked like a setback was really a setup for God to do something greater in Paul’s life. You may have been through some bad breaks and unfair situations. Stay passionate. God is still on the throne. If you keep your head up, the King of glory will still come in and guide you to where He wants you to be.
”
”
Joel Osteen (You Can You Will: 8 Undeniable Qualities of a Winner)
“
Coffee If you don’t drink coffee, you should think about two to four cups a day. It can make you more alert, happier, and more productive. It might even make you live longer. Coffee can also make you more likely to exercise, and it contains beneficial antioxidants and other substances associated with decreased risk of stroke (especially in women), Parkinson’s disease, and dementia. Coffee is also associated with decreased risk of abnormal heart rhythms, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers.12, 13 Any one of those benefits of coffee would be persuasive, but cumulatively they’re a no-brainer. An hour ago I considered doing some writing for this book, but I didn’t have the necessary energy or focus to sit down and start working. I did, however, have enough energy to fix myself a cup of coffee. A few sips into it, I was happier to be working than I would have been doing whatever lazy thing was my alternative. Coffee literally makes me enjoy work. No willpower needed. Coffee also allows you to manage your energy levels so you have the most when you need it. My experience is that coffee drinkers have higher highs and lower lows, energywise, than non–coffee drinkers, but that trade-off works. I can guarantee that my best thinking goes into my job, while saving my dull-brain hours for household chores and other simple tasks. The biggest downside of coffee is that once you get addicted to caffeine, you can get a “coffee headache” if you go too long without a cup. Luckily, coffee is one of the most abundant beverages on earth, so you rarely have to worry about being without it. Coffee costs money, takes time, gives you coffee breath, and makes you pee too often. It can also make you jittery and nervous if you have too much. But if success is your dream and operating at peak mental performance is something you want, coffee is a good bet. I highly recommend it. In fact, I recommend it so strongly that I literally feel sorry for anyone who hasn’t developed the habit. Pleasure
”
”
Scott Adams (How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life)
“
If you have friends, relatives and other people whom you know who are struggling with terminal, chronic or rare illnesses, refer them to the Stellah Mupanduki Healing Books and they will be saved. You can also read to your grandparents/parents with diseases like, cancer, Alzheimer's, MS, Parkinson And Coma...you can also read these to children and you can also read these good reads for your own salvation. there is a wide selection for everything you need for true healing from this author's books.
”
”
Stellah Mupanduki
“
uterine fibroids (benign tumors of the uterus) have been treated, thus avoiding hysterectomies and infertility. Clinical trials for tumors of the brain, breast, pancreas and liver, as well as Parkinson’s disease, arthritis,
”
”
John Grisham (The Tumor)
“
Whether you’re the researcher, the health-care professional, the family member, the friend, the person with Parkinson’s, persevere … our journey together may very well be a long one … don’t give up. You never know what is just around the next corner … never lose hope … persevere, this race as well can be won.
”
”
Jon Palfreman (Brain Storms: The Race to Unlock the Mysteries of Parkinson's Disease)
“
Although I owned a boat, I had no sonar, metal detector or any practical method of surveying the ocean bottom. With an incurable illness, no prospect of financial reward, little chance of success, brain surgery looming, and one child in college with another about to start, I was not in a position to spend thousands of dollars on a search. Still, desperate for a distraction, anything to pry my focus away from the disease, I decided—the hell with Parkinson’s. I’m doing it.
”
”
Peter M. Hunt (The Lost Intruder, the Search for a Missing Navy Jet)
“
This is not science fiction. Around the world, 50,000 men with prostate cancer have been treated with focused ultrasound. Over 36,000 women with uterine fibroids (benign tumors of the uterus) have been treated, thus avoiding hysterectomies and infertility. Clinical trials for tumors of the brain, breast, pancreas, and liver, as well as Parkinson’s disease and arthritis, are inching forward at over 270 research sites around the world.
”
”
John Grisham (The Tumor)
“
STEP TWO: REVIEW YOUR EDUCATION If you’ve read this book, congratulations! You’ve given yourself a tremendous education. But knowledge isn’t power; it’s potential power. Decide what tools do you want to access today. And what do you want to keep track of in the future? 1. Are stem cells something that you want to pursue for some aspect of your life or for someone in your family? 2. Do you want to implement Dr. Sinclair’s Four Vitality Ingredients that help reverse biological aging? Or tap into the energy force of NMN? 3. Or, are there some technologies that you’ll want to keep track of so that you have them when you need them? Perhaps the Wnt Pathway for Osteoarthritis? 4. Is there anyone in your family or people you know whom you want to share information with about what you’ve learned here in the big 6—heart disease, diabetes/obesity, stroke, cancer, autoimmune disease, and Alzheimer’s? 5. Are you going to keep track of Gene Therapy and CRISPR and some of the transformations it’s creating? 6. Do you know anyone who has Parkinson’s or severe addiction who could feel relief from focused Ultrasound without brain surgery? Make a list of the things that you want to act on and things you want to keep track of, so that if you or anyone you know who needs help, you’ll have answers that you can share with them and that they can consider with their doctor. Just create a little checklist for yourself. The book is here. It’s the ultimate resource you can go back to as often as you need.
”
”
Tony Robbins (Life Force: How New Breakthroughs in Precision Medicine Can Transform the Quality of Your Life & Those You Love)
“
Coffee drinking is associated with a 10 per cent to 15 per cent reduction in total mortality.26 Large-scale studies27 found that most major causes of death, including heart disease, were reduced. Coffee may guard against the neurologic diseases Alzheimer’s,28, 29 Parkinson’s disease,30, 31 liver cirrhosis32 and liver cancer.33 A word of caution here: While these correlation studies are suggestive, they are not proof of benefit. However, they suggest that coffee may not be as harmful as we imagined.
”
”
Jason Fung (The Obesity Code)
“
Furthermore, consumption of refined sugar increases inflammation. People with Parkinson’s are in a state of chronic inflammation, and we need to reduce or eliminate any food or activity that exacerbates that state.
”
”
John C Coleman (Rethinking Parkinson's Disease: The definitive guide to the known causes of Parkinson's disease and proven reversal strategies)
“
Activate adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK). AMPK is an enzyme that stimulates mitochondrial autophagy (mitophagy) and mitochondrial biogenesis as well as five other critically important pathways: insulin, leptin, mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), insulin-like growth factor 1, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma co-activator 1-alpha (PPAR⊠). It also increases nerve growth factor and helps protect against the type of oxidative stress that leads to Parkinson’s disease. Your AMPK levels naturally decline with increasing age. Following a cyclical ketogenic diet will help you maintain healthy AMPK levels.
”
”
Joseph Mercola (KetoFast: Rejuvenate Your Health with a Step-by-Step Guide to Timing Your Ketogenic Meals)
“
Imagine if there was an intervention that didn’t just reduce your risk of the leading killers but also arthritis, dementia, osteoporosis, Parkinson’s disease, and sensory impairments. Because such risks tend to double every seven years, even just slowing aging, such that the average sixty-five-year-old, for example, would have the health profile and disease risk of today’s fifty-eight-year-old, would be expected to cut in half everyone’s risk of death, frailty, and disability.55 This is why I wrote How Not to Age.
”
”
Michael Greger (How Not to Age: The Scientific Approach to Getting Healthier as You Get Older)
Monique L. Giroux (Optimal Health with Parkinson's Disease: An Integrative Guide to Complementary, Alternative, and Lifestyle Therapies for a Lifetime of Wellness)
“
This has been used with some success in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, which results from the loss of neurons that make dopamine.116 Areas responsible for motor control depend on dopamine, and its absence leads to dysregulation of the associated circuits and results in tremors. In gene therapy for Parkinson’s, genes are attached to viruses that are injected into the motor control regions of the basal ganglia and carry the new genes into neurons. The
”
”
Joseph E. LeDoux (Anxious)
“
Results have now been seen not only in elementary-school children, but in preschoolers, college students, the middle-aged, and the elderly. Healthy volunteers have benefited, as have people with disorders including Down syndrome, schizophrenia, traumatic brain injury, alcohol abuse, Parkinson’s disease, chemotherapy-treated cancer, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and mild cognitive impairment (a common forerunner of Alzheimer’s disease). Gains have been seen to persist for up to eight months after the completion of training.
”
”
Dan Hurley (Smarter: The New Science of Building Brain Power)
“
In universities and pharmaceutical labs around the world, computer scientists and computational biologists are designing algorithms to sift through billions of gene sequences, looking for links between certain genetic markers and diseases. The goal is to help us sidestep the diseases we're most likely to contract and to provide each one of us with a cabinet of personalized medicines. Each one should include just the right dosage and the ideal mix of molecules for our bodies. Between these two branches of research, genetic and behavioral, we're being parsed, inside and out. Even the language of the two fields is similar. In a nod to geneticists, Dishman and his team are working to catalog what they call our "behavioral markers." The math is also about the same. Whether they're scrutinizing our strands of DNA or our nightly trips to the bathroom, statisticians are searching for norms, correlations, and anomalies. Dishman prefers his behavioral approach, in part because the market's less crowded. "There are a zillion people looking at biology," he says, "and too few looking at behavior." His gadgets also have an edge because they can provide basic alerts from day one. The technology indicating whether a person gets out of bed, for example, isn't much more complicated than the sensor that automatically opens a supermarket door. But that nugget of information is valuable. Once we start installing these sensors, and the electronics companies get their foot in the door, the experts can start refining the analysis from simple alerts to sophisticated predictions-perhaps preparing us for the onset of Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's.
”
”
Gary F. Marcus (The Birth of the Mind: How a Tiny Number of Genes Creates The Complexities of Human Thought)
“
In universities and pharmaceutical labs around the world, computer scientists and computational biologists are designing algorithms to sift through billions of gene sequences, looking for links between certain genetic markers and diseases. The goal is to help us sidestep the diseases we're most likely to contract and to provide each one of us with a cabinet of personalized medicines. Each one should include just the right dosage and the ideal mix of molecules for our bodies. Between these two branches of research, genetic and behavioral, we're being parsed, inside and out. Even the language of the two fields is similar. In a nod to geneticists, Dishman and his team are working to catalog what they call our "behavioral markers." The math is also about the same. Whether they're scrutinizing our strands of DNA or our nightly trips to the bathroom, statisticians are searching for norms, correlations, and anomalies. Dishman prefers his behavioral approach, in part because the market's less crowded. "There are a zillion people looking at biology," he says, "and too few looking at behavior." His gadgets also have an edge because they can provide basic alerts from day one. The technology indicating whether a person gets out of bed, for example, isn't much more complicated than the sensor that automatically opens a supermarket door. But that nugget of information is valuable. Once we start installing these sensors, and the electronics companies get their foot in the door, the experts can start refining the analysis from simple alerts to sophisticated predictions-perhaps preparing us for the onset of Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's.
”
”
Stephen Baker (The Numerati)
“
The bottom-line conclusion from the early work on the relation of monoamines to schizophrenia was this: Too much dopamine induces a psychological disorder, and too little, a movement disorder similar to Parkinson's disease. A balance must be maintained. When it is tipped, the brain does not function normally. Subsequent work, as we'll see in the following section, has drawn a more complex picture of the neural basis of schizophrenia. Dopamine is still believed to be involved, but not quite in so simple a way as the original imbalance hypothesis suggested.
”
”
Joseph E. LeDoux
“
2008 study from the journal Movement Disorders reported a 350% increased risk of Parkinson’s Disease in participants with the lowest cholesterol.
”
”
Mike Sheridan (Eat Meat And Stop Jogging: 'Common' Advice On How To Get Fit Is Keeping You Fat And Making You Sick)
“
Parkinson's disease
Michael J. Foxhas Parkinson's disease and Parkinson has his.
”
”
Beryl Dov
“
rediscovered, a ketogenic diet is returning to mainstream acceptance and is again recognized as a highly effective therapy for seizure and neurologically related disorders. In fact, there are studies to show the strong benefits of ketogenic diets on virtually every manner of neurological disorder. Some examples of neurologic uses of a ketogenic diet other than epilepsy are migraines, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS), autism, brain tumors, depression, sleep disorders, schizophrenia, postanoxic brain injury, posthypoxic myoclonus glycogenosis type V, and narcolepsy, to name a few.
”
”
Nora T. Gedgaudas (Primal Body, Primal Mind: Beyond Paleo for Total Health and a Longer Life)
“
lots of fruit and vegetables gives us all the vitamins we need. A lot is said about anti-oxidants these days. I do agree with the beneficial effects they might have on our health, and the possible need to have a good intake of them on a daily basis. As I have said, I eat a very healthy diet, with lots of fresh vegetables and fruit. I have never taken any anti-oxidant supplements, other than garlic pills, but am considering doing so. There is no proof that these anti-oxidants get through the blood-brain barrier, so they may not actually help us. I feel that a controlled double-blind study should be done on this subject. There
”
”
John Pepper (Reverse Parkinson's Disease)
“
In the years to come, some of our best minds will try to dig deeper into that computer program, to figure out its individual lines of code (the IF-THENS that we call genes), the products of those lines (what we call proteins), how all those lines of biological code fit together, and how they make room for nurture.
In the long run, the effects on society will be profound. Take, for example, the advances that our increasing understanding of genes will lead to in medicine. Because, as we have seen, the brain is built like the rest of the body, it is also amenable to many of the same types of treatment. For example, stem cell therapies originally developed for leukemia are being adapted to treat Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease. Gene therapies developed for cystic fibrosis may someday help treat brain tumors. Both work by harnessing the body's own toolkit for development.
”
”
Gary F. Marcus (The Birth of the Mind: How a Tiny Number of Genes Creates The Complexities of Human Thought)
“
A team from Sydney, Australia, has lowered levels of these proteins using light. They implanted human genes associated with Alzheimer’s into mouse DNA, so that the animals developed abnormal tau proteins and amyloid plaques. Then they treated them for a month with low-level light therapy, simply by holding the light one to two centimeters above the animals’ heads. Using the same spectrum of near-infrared light that has helped in traumatic brain injury, Parkinson’s disease, and retinal damage, they lowered both the pathological tau proteins and the amyloid plaques by 70 percent in key brain areas that Alzheimer’s affects. Thereafter signs of “rusting” decreased, and the mitochondria, the powerhouses of the cells, improved their function.
”
”
Norman Doidge (The Brain's Way of Healing: Remarkable Discoveries and Recoveries from the Frontiers of Neuroplasticity)
“
Six years after her Parkinson’s disease diagnosis, Kimberly suffered from involuntary shaking and could no longer ride her bike or enjoy other forms of exercise. She was successfully treated in a focused ultrasound clinical trial at the University of Maryland. She is now back on her bike and says the clock has been turned back on her life.
”
”
John Grisham (The Tumor)
“
butyrate is linked to the prevention of degenerative diseases that affect the nervous system, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. This short chain fatty acid also increases the body’s energy expenditure and reduces inflammation. These characteristics
”
”
Greg Cook (Butter Coffee Weight Loss Protocol: Harness The Power of Butter Coffee & MCT Oil for Fat Loss)
“
Continuation of Andy’s comments Young, this is how I remember that incident: When we entered the visitors’ lounge, that arrogant nitwit was smoking his pipe. The way he stared at you made me cringe. God only knows what would’ve happened if I weren’t with you. He would have molested you without reservation. When he catechized your “formidable” counterproposal, which you had every right to stipulate, I was ready to punch that fool in the face. He was lucky I held back and did not allow my rage to cloud my better judgment. Otherwise, I would had knocked him out cold! I don’t think Dr. Dean Higgins would have appreciated a dead aristocrat on the school’s floor.☺ I was relieved when I read of his demise from Parkinson’s disease back in 1980. To this day, I’m still grateful for Uncle James’ timely warning to beware of this sanctimonious hypocrite. My dear fella, I’m glad this despotic fascist is no longer living in our midst. Andy XOXOXO
”
”
Young (Turpitude (A Harem Boy's Saga Book 4))
“
Coffee drinking is associated with a 10 percent to 15 percent reduction in total mortality.26 Large-scale studies27 found that most major causes of death, including heart disease were reduced. Coffee may guard against the neurologic diseases Alzheimer’s,28, 29 Parkinson’s disease,30, 31 liver cirrhosis32 and liver cancer.
”
”
Jason Fung (The Obesity Code: Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss (Why Intermittent Fasting Is the Key to Controlling Your Weight))
“
fully fifty-five diseases are known to be caused by gluten (Farrell and Kelly 2002). Among these are heart disease, cancer, nearly all autoimmune diseases, osteoporosis, irritable bowel syndrome and other gastrointestinal disorders, gallbladder disease, Hashimoto’s disease (an autoimmune thyroid disorder responsible for up to 90 percent of all low-functioning thyroid issues), migraines, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease), neuropathies (having normal EMG readings), and most other degenerative neurological disorders as well as autism, which is technically an autoimmune brain disorder.
”
”
Nora T. Gedgaudas (Primal Body, Primal Mind: Beyond Paleo for Total Health and a Longer Life)
“
In Parkinson's disease (PD), the results of dopamine deficiency include increased neuronal activity in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) and globus pallidus internus (GPi), with irregular and bursting neuronal firing patterns. Increased synchrony is found among sensorimotor networks, which may contribute to PD motor signs.
”
”
William J. Marks Jr. (Deep Brain Stimulation Management (Cambridge Medicine))
“
Just as the discoveries of medication and surgery led to therapies to relieve a staggering number of conditions, so does the discovery of neuroplasticity. The reader will find cases, many very detailed, that may be relevant to someone who has, or cares for someone who has experienced, chronic pain, stroke, traumatic brain injury, brain damage, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, autism, attention deficit disorder, a learning disorder (including dyslexia), a sensory processing disorder, a developmental delay, a part of the brain missing, Down syndrome, or certain kinds of blindness, among others.
”
”
Norman Doidge (The Brain's Way of Healing: Remarkable Discoveries and Recoveries from the Frontiers of Neuroplasticity)
“
chronically elevated insulin levels and all the fun that brings: Increased rates of cancer, accelerated aging, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, obesity and, ultimately, type 2 diabetes, which is characterized by insulin resistance and chronically elevated blood glucose levels.
”
”
Robb Wolf (The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet)
“
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Parkinsons Disease Foundation,
”
”
Anonymous
“
to date, Parkinson’s disease and ET are genetically unrelated.
”
”
Mark Plumb (Essential Tremor: The Facts)
“
Parkinson’s disease is a neurological disorder marked by the gradual degeneration of nerve cells in the portion of the midbrain called the basal ganglia, which controls body movements. The brains of those who have this heartbreaking disease don’t produce enough of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which the basal ganglia needs for proper functioning. Early symptoms of Parkinson’s, which is currently considered incurable, include motor issues such as muscle rigidity, tremors, and changes in gait and speech patterns that override voluntary control. In
”
”
Joe Dispenza (You Are the Placebo: Making Your Mind Matter)
“
This is not science fiction. Around the world, 50,000 men with prostate cancer have been treated with focused ultrasound. Over 22,000 women with uterine fibroids (benign tumors of the uterus) have been treated, thus avoiding hysterectomies and infertility. Clinical trials for tumors of the brain, breast, pancreas and liver, as well as Parkinson’s disease, arthritis, and hypertension are inching forward at over 225 research sites around the world.
”
”
John Grisham (The Tumor)
“
Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii). This parasite, which is present in birds and cats, is the reason pregnant women are not supposed to scoop kitty litter. At least 40 percent and as much as 70 percent of humans in Western countries are infected with toxoplasmosis, which is completely asymptomatic unless you are immunocompromised or become infected while pregnant. (There is no risk to the fetus if you are infected with Toxoplasma gondii before becoming pregnant, but getting infected during gestation can cause a variety of serious health problems for the baby.) This parasite, while typically considered completely benign, is associated with increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease (a suspected autoimmune disease), Parkinson’s disease (a suspected autoimmune disease), Tourette syndrome, antiphospholipid syndrome, systemic sclerosis, and inflammatory bowel diseases.
”
”
Sarah Ballantyne (The Paleo Approach: Reverse Autoimmune Disease, Heal Your Body)
“
In fact, the effect of the expensive placebo was not significantly different from that of levodopa, the most effective medication for Parkinson’s disease. Levodopa acts by raising levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain.
”
”
Anonymous
“
EFAs are so important to the brain that some medical studies link low EFA levels to diseases such as depression, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s.
”
”
Rockridge Press (Nutrition Facts: The Truth About Food)
“
Parkinson’s is also tricky genetically: While we have identified several gene variants that increase risk for PD, such as LRRK2 and SNCA, about 15 percent of patients diagnosed have some family history of the disease—and are therefore presumed to have a genetic component—but do not have any known risk genes or SNPs.
”
”
Peter Attia (Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity)
“
Autophagy has been linked to Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other degenerative diseases. Specialists believe that a prolonged process of fasting might increase the possibility of clearing the brain from excess proteins.
”
”
Malcolm Cesar (Autophagy: Simple Techniques to Activate Your Bodies’ Hidden Health Mechanism to Promote Longevity, Optimal Cellular Renewal, Detox, and Strength for a Happy Life)
“
Got Milk? For the record, you shouldn’t. I am not advocating for training your gut to handle lactose. We learned about the effect of animal protein and saturated fat on the gut in Chapter 2—less SCFA-producing bacteria, more inflammatory bacteria, increased TMAO production, increased intestinal permeability, and increases in bacterial endotoxin. As we’ve done in the past, when we examine the whole food rather than a sum of its parts, we find that dairy products have been associated with prostate cancer and Parkinson’s disease. Also the link to bone health turns out to be a myth—a prospective study of ninety-six thousand people over twenty-two years showed that milk consumption during teenage years did not protect against hip fracture later in life. In fact, men who drank more milk as a teenager actually had increased risk of hip fracture in the study. In a study of women in Sweden, high milk intake was associated with increased risk of bone fracture, heart disease, cancer, and premature death. One of the first things I do with my patients who have gas, bloating, or diarrhea is to eliminate dairy. You would not believe how many of them are cured just by doing this. Sorry, but milk doesn’t do a body good. The irony is that lactose, which has been vilified through the years as evil, is probably the most redeeming thing about dairy because lactose is actually a prebiotic and can have a beneficial effect on the gut microbiota.
”
”
Will Bulsiewicz (Fiber Fueled: The Plant-Based Gut Health Program for Losing Weight, Restoring Your Health, and Optimizing Your Microbiome)
“
Pain is particularly susceptible to the power of suggestion. If you previously obtained pain relief by taking an aspirin, you expect the same benefit when someone hands you a similar-looking pill, even though it may be a placebo. This form of analgesia can be blocked by the opioid antagonist naloxone, implying that your belief recruits your body’s own opioid-like substances called endorphins. This is in line with what my mother told me about when she assisted her father, a surgeon, in operations in the hospital’s bunker during the Allied bombing campaign in World War II Berlin: when they ran out of morphine, the injured received, unbeknownst to them, a harmless saline injection that nevertheless provided relief. Placebos don’t just work for pain or depression. Belief helps improve motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease and shapes immune response. The placebo effect is everywhere.21
”
”
Christof Koch (Then I Am Myself the World: What Consciousness Is and How to Expand It)
“
Averroës, or Ibn-Rushd, the chief jurist in Córdoba and also the court physician,” said Joël. “He was the first medical man to describe the symptoms of what we call Parkinson’s disease
”
”
Martin Walker (To Kill a Troubadour (Bruno, Chief of Police, #15))
“
I mentioned that during REM sleep we experience our most complex and vivid dreams. It is during this time that projections from the mid-brain to the spinal cord cause paralysis (also called ‘atonia’), from the neck down. This is thought to prevent us from acting out our dreams. Support for this idea comes from a condition known as REM sleep behaviour disorder (RBD), where there is no or little atonia during REM sleep. I will discuss this in more detail later, but RBD is an early sign of the future development of Parkinson’s disease.40 At one end of the severity scale of RBD, individuals just move
”
”
Russell Foster (Life Time: Your Body Clock and Its Essential Roles in Good Health and Sleep)
“
Carlsson went on to find that the early symptoms of Parkinson’s disease result from the death of dopamine-producing neurons in the substantia nigra, although he didn’t know then what caused the cell death.5 Today, we know that those neurons die from a protein-folding disorder: the Lewy bodies inside dopamine-producing neurons are clumps of misfolded proteins that are thought to kill the cells. As the disease worsens, other areas of the brain besides the substantia nigra become involved.
”
”
Eric R. Kandel (The Disordered Mind: What Unusual Brains Tell Us About Ourselves)
“
There are also some potential safety concerns with grafts derived from pluripotent cells. Although Parkinson’s disease is a distressing condition that causes much suffering, it does not greatly reduce lifespan, so the period of time available for the development of complications is quite long, perhaps about 20 years on average. For any cell therapy derived from pluripotent stem cells there is always an issue about the possibility of persistence of a few pluripotent cells in the graft which might give rise to teratomas. Although the animal experiments indicate that the teratoma risk is very low, the long survival time of Parkinson’s patients does make even a very small cancer risk seem significant. Moreover, the differentiation protocols for pluripotent stem cells never produce 100 per cent of the desired cell type. Even if all the pluripotent cells are gone there will certainly be other types of neuron and glial cell present and these may generate unwanted effects. For example, the uncontrolled movement problems seen in some of the foetal midbrain graft recipients has been ascribed to the presence of other types of neuron which make inappropriate connections.
”
”
Jonathan M.W. Slack (Stem Cells: A Very Short Introduction)
“
Human pluripotent stem cells are considered a suitable source of dopaminergic neurons because the supply of early human foetuses as graft donors is limited. Also, since they are obtained as a result of elective abortion, there are inevitably some ethical issues. Abortion is opposed by more people than oppose the use of human preimplantation embryos to grow embryonic stem cells. So there is a significant body of opinion who consider it is all right to use human embryonic stem cells but not all right to use human foetal grafts. Accordingly, Parkinson’s disease is usually listed among the priority diseases for treatment with human ES cells, or more recently, with iPS cells.
”
”
Jonathan M.W. Slack (Stem Cells: A Very Short Introduction)
“
Several emerging companies, still in their infancy, hope to increase the speed of brain communication to the outside world by writing and reading neural data rapidly by means of direct plug-ins. The problem is not theoretical but practical. When an electrode is placed into the brain, the tissue slowly tries to push it out, in the same way that the skin of your finger pushes out a splinter. That's the small problem. The bigger one is that neurosurgeons don't want to perform the operations, because there is always the risk of infection or death on the operating table is the operating table. And beyond disease states (such as Parkinson's or severe depression), it's not clear that consumers will undergo an open-head surgery just for the joy of texting their friends more rapidly.
”
”
David Eagleman (Livewired: The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain)
“
disease76 375,000 2. Lung diseases (lung cancer,77 COPD, and asthma78) 296,000 3. You’ll be surprised! (see chapter 15) 225,000 4. Brain diseases (stroke79 and Alzheimer’s80) 214,000 5. Digestive cancers (colorectal, pancreatic, and esophageal)81 106,000 6. Infections (respiratory and blood)82 95,000 7. Diabetes83 76,000 8. High blood pressure84 65,000 9. Liver disease (cirrhosis and cancer)85 60,000 10. Blood cancers (leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma)86 56,000 11. Kidney disease87 47,000 12. Breast cancer88 41,000 13. Suicide89 41,000 14. Prostate cancer90 28,000 15. Parkinson’s disease91 25,000
”
”
Michael Greger (How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease)
“
Regular coffee consumption is associated with a decreased risk of several cancers (including breast, prostate, colorectal, and endometrial), cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, dementia, and possibly depression and suicide. (Though high doses can produce nervousness and anxiety, and chances of committing suicide climb among those who drink eight or more cups a day.)
”
”
Michael Pollan (This Is Your Mind on Plants)
“
Yes, Dad—
I liked that call we had yesterday.
It carried me hundreds of miles away
to a creek bed in Tennessee.
To those days when we
knew just what to do
with the fragile things.
Those days
when your pick
was steady.
”
”
Jenny Noble Anderson (But Still She Flies: Poems and Paintings)
“
When black people are on the short end of a black-white health disparity, it automatically gets attributed to systemic racism. But when white people are on the short end of a black-white health disparity, few even notice the disparity and label it as such, much less attribute it to racism. White Americans are more likely than black Americans to die of chronic lower respiratory disease, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, liver disease, and eight different types of cancer. The same thinking that automatically attributes the racial disparity in COVID-19 deaths to systemic racism against blacks could be applied equally to argue the existence of systemic racism against whites with respect to all of those diseases. A fitting end for the saga of racialized COVID medicine: By late 2022, the racial profile of COVID-19 victims had switched. More whites were dying of it than blacks. Did systemic racism change its direction?
”
”
Coleman Hughes (The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America)
“
In that vein, Counsel boldly asserts his method of using intense aerobic therapy, as a way of coping with Parkinson’s disease, by attempting to jump start and restore the electro-chemical life left in his remaining brain cells, can be likened to how he recharges the dying cells in a car battery.
”
”
Jerry Hurtubise J.D. (Parkinsonian Democracy - Special Edition: A Legal Fiction Advocating Diet and Exercise for Parkinson's)
“
forgiveness, I came to see that forgiveness was a gift I was giving myself as an effective tool for releasing myself from the bondage
”
”
Howard Shifke (Fighting Parkinson's...and Winning: A memoir of my recovery from Parkinson's Disease)
“
Autophagy is essential to life. If it shuts down completely, the organism dies. Imagine if you stopped taking out the garbage (or the recycling); your house would soon become uninhabitable. Except instead of trash bags, this cellular cleanup is carried out by specialized organelles called lysosomes, which package up the old proteins and other detritus, including pathogens, and grind them down (via enzymes) for reuse. In addition, the lysosomes also break up and destroy things called aggregates, which are clumps of damaged proteins that accumulate over time. Protein aggregates have been implicated in diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, so getting rid of them is good; impaired autophagy has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease–related pathology and also to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson’s disease, and other neurodegenerative disorders.
”
”
Peter Attia (Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity)
“
The risk of Parkinson’s is increased if you have a mutation in a gene called GBA, which codes for one of the digestive enzymes involved in autophagy. Parkinson’s is accompanied by ‘Lewy bodies’, clumps of a protein called alpha-synuclein that are toxic to brain cells. The problematic, sticky form of alpha-synuclein is normally degraded by autophagy, but even a small impairment caused by a minor GBA mutation is enough to slow its breakdown, increase its levels and thus increase the risk of getting Parkinson’s. Impaired autophagy is also associated with Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s disease, arthritis and heart problems.
”
”
Andrew Steele (Ageless: The New Science of Getting Older Without Getting Old)
“
A small number of persons with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease respond to long-term use of zolpidem with reduced bradykinesia and rigidity. Zolpidem dosages of 10 mg four times daily may be tolerated without sedation for several years.
”
”
Benjamin James Sadock (Kaplan and Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry: Behavioral Sciences/Clinical Psychiatry)