Parkinson's Disease

[Giraffe]

In Parkinson’s disease, the benefits seen from increasing the concentration of dopamine could result from dopamine’s antagonism to serotonin; anti-serotonin drugs can alleviate the symptoms, and 5-hydroxytryptophan can worsen the symptoms (Chase, et al., 1976). Other movement disorders, including akathisia and chorea, can be produced by serotonin.

Ray Peat: Serotonin, depression, and aggression - The problem of brain energy.

Peat doesn't mention dopamine often. I think, it's mainly this antagonism and the ratio of dopamine to serotonin that matter in his view.

 

[Soren]

Haven't posted on this in a while but I thought I'd give an update.

Started her on 2 drops of metergoline a day and seen a noticeable improvement in just a few days.

Hot flashes which were constant all throughout the day have gone. I don't know much about hot flashes but I would assume that serotonin might be involved.

Mentally stated she is feeling happier. Will continue on 2 drops for a week and up the dose and see what the results are.

So far very good.

 

[Soren]

Further Update:

I posted this in the feedback section of pansterone but thought I'd post it here.
I've taken her off of metergoline for now as it was not having the immediate effect I was looking for which was lowering of anxiety and stress.

-Started her on Pregnenolone and dhea (pansterone) Taking 6-8 drops per day spaced out throughout the day she has had some significant benefit so far.
-She had the feeling of a knot in a her stomach of tension and anxiety for years and it is nearly completely gone. The gut parkinson's connection I think is likely at play here.
-She is a lot less stressed and a lot less anxious in general. She says it has a calming effect on her. This has been the biggest change for me and she says it is noticeable for all members of the family.
-Hot flashes are significantly reduced.
-Sleeping a lot better.
-Her appetite has increased.

My guess is the benefit is due to the lowering of cortisol. The positive effects seem to be increasing and hopefully they will continue to do so.

One problem that is still present is frequent urination which is likely due to gut problems. Hopefully this will lesson with the continued decrease in cortisol as the body is able to heal and rebuild instead of breaking down constantly due to stress.

Any input welcome as always.

 

[burtlancast]

From an interview of Dr Coimbra about his high Vit D treatment:

"At a certain point we were convinced that Vitamin D stimulated the production of quite a few neuroregenerative substances in the brain of adults, children and embryos and fetuses. And it is extremely important, as much for the development as for the function of the neurosystem (the same thing in the nervous system of an adult).

This knowledge is not available in medical texts and the majority of doctors do not know the importance of this hormone, which is not a vitamin but an hormone that induces the formation of regenerative substances of the nervous system.

And we began, for this reason, to administer Vitamin D to those that had neurodegenerative illnesses, and became interested in Parkinson's patients and began to give Vitamin D in physiologically realistic doses.

I remember a Parkinson's patient that received 10,000 of Vitamin D, when the patient returned for the second visit, after 3 months (taking 10,000 IU every day) the patient had a vitiligo lesion on his face that had diminished a lot in just a few months of administering 10,000 IU.

This made us search for information in the medical literature in relation to the effects of Vitamin D in the immune system."

A cured case of Parkinson by the Coimbra protocol:

"Yesterday we saw a patient with onset Parkinson's disease at Dr. Coimbra's practice. The symptoms started after severe traumatic stress: The patient was robbed five times in the street within a period of three months during a political and financial crisis in his hometown in Brazil. Twice his little son of four years was taken hostage at gunpoint to make him give away his valuables.

He started to have tremor of hands and neck, slurred speech, could not walk in a straight line anymore as he experienced dizziness and his leg was not moving properly. In addition he started to forget names and information e.g. the name of his favorite band or musicians he had been listening to for over twenty years.

The treatment was started with a lower dose of Vitamin D of 20,000 iu as Parkinson patients usually are not that resistant to VD3 as patients with autoimmune disorders. Doses were controlled and would have been adjusted according to the usual treatment (PTH and other standard/parameters), but the patient did fine with 20.000 iu.

In addition the patient was prescribed:

- 400 mg Riboflavin / Vitamin B2

- 960 mg of elemental magnesium (the patient did not tolerate magnesium chloride or citrate and was advised to take chelated magnesium glycinate, which he tolerates perfectly)

- 4 x 500 mcg 5 MTHF Methylfolate (this needs to be adjusted individually and should not be taken in such high doses without doctors prescription and control of personal preparameters!)

Within a few months, symptoms started decreasing, after a year he only experienced slight symptoms in his hands and legs. We saw the patient after two years of treatment: He reported that he seldom has slight problems with his memory

"I take a few seconds longer than I used to, but than the word comes out“. But as he is about to turn 60 years this might be due to a normal aging process. In addition to not having any signs of Parkinson anymore he reported that he tolerates stress much easier and keeps calm even in stressful situations now."





Parkinson |

 

[burtlancast]

Another Parkinson testimonial



Tania Testimonial

Post by Tania Rocha, published in the Brazilian group "PROTOCOLO COIMBRA - Vitamina D para Esclerose Múltipla e Doenças Autoimunes". Tania has kindly allowed us to publish it on our page:

"Good afternoon friends.

A year and a half ago we were after a treatment for my father who has Parkinson's and was not walking. We received the sad news that he would never walk again.

I did not accept this prognosis and as I was already researching about the Dr. Coimbra protocol I scheduled an appointment with Dr. Joao Paul who consults in Curitiba and Londrina.

At the first appointment, he could not walk alone.

At the second appointment, after 6 months, he was using the walker.

Last month was the third appointment (in the video below we recorded the second and third appointment).

Before, my father was always frowning, nervous, pessimistic, non-interacting, and very weak.
Today he is cheerful, playful,
AND DRIVING AGAIN
I finally got my father back.

May this video inspire those who have this disease and show that the improvements are possible.
Thank you very much to João Carlos P. Moscal for the patience in clarifying my doubts and guiding me.
I thank the group for the welcome and help they have given us.
I thank my dear Dr. João Paul for the care and attention he has with my father.

Hugs to all!"

 

[Soren]

@burtlancast thank you so so much for these. These are GREAT posts!!!

One question with regards to vitamin D supplementation. Do you think anything needs done to prevent the risk of calcification due to too much vitamin D. Say for example supplementing with Vitamin K? Do you know if any of these protocols supplemented with Vitamin K or did anything else to minimize the risk?

I guess one could theorize that due to the Parkinson's the body needs so much vitamin D that calcification is not much of a risk.

 

[burtlancast]

Do you think anything needs done to prevent the risk of calcification due to too much vitamin D. Say for example supplementing with Vitamin K? Do you know if any of these protocols supplemented with Vitamin K or did anything else to minimize the risk?

Yes, if you read Dr Coimbra protocols, when people start ingesting 50.000-250.000 UI/day of Vit D, he forbids them to eat/drink milk products and demands them to consume 2.5 liters of water to avoid calcification problems.

He does also include magnesium supplements.

I suppose you could add Vit K and IP6, for good measure.

But at only 20.000 UI/day, the dangers of hypercalcemia are very remote in my opinion.

Amazoniac posted a study where it was shown hypercalcemia only starts at 400ng/dl of 25-OH, and i believe to reach that level with only 20.000 UI/day, it would take months/years ( if ever ?)

 

[ecstatichamster]

Much appreciate your updates @Soren

 

[Soren]

Yes, if you read Dr Coimbra protocols, when people start ingesting 50.000-250.000 UI/day of Vit D, he forbids them to eat/drink milk products and demands them to consume 2.5 liters of water to avoid calcification problems.

He does also include magnesium supplements.

I suppose you could add Vit K and IP6, for good measure.

But at only 20.000 UI/day, the dangers of hypercalcemia are very remote in my opinion.

Amazoniac posted a study where it was shown hypercalcemia only starts at 400ng/dl of 25-OH, and i believe to reach that level with only 20.000 UI/day, it would take months/years ( if ever ?)

Good to know I have often wondered what levels of Vitamin D were necessary to achieve hypercalcemia but struggled to find anything definitive. Probably because it varies so much based on other factors and cannot be based on vitamin D levels alone. Good to know though that even as high as 20.000 UI/day it is very unlikely to cause any issues.

Yes I saw his notes on Magnesium. I think one of the biggest issues with adequate magnesium supplementation is absorption. One of the best options I have found is Magnesium oil with DSMO has greatly enhanced its effect in my experience.

 

[Soren]

Much appreciate your updates @Soren

No problem, thanks for all the advice it is greatly appreciated.

 

[Soren]

Just finished doing some research on copper deficiency and it's potential roll in Parkinson's disease and decided to see what I could do to perhaps increase copper levels. First I am going to revise what her levels were as she had blood work done to see metal levels in her blood and I think copper was one of the ones tested.

In Peat's article Iron's Dangers he states,

"It (copper) is also necessary for the normal functioning of certain nerve cells (substantia nigra) whose degeneration is involved in Parkinson's disease."

I also re-discovered this thread started by @Douglas Ek X-rays Reveal The Important Role Of Copper In Parkinson’s Disease where he posted the following study,
X-rays reveal the important role of copper in Parkinson’s disease (yes thread title and study name are the same)

Given this information and depending on what her blood work reveals I will likely start trialing her on a low dose of copper 1 obtained from mitosynergy. What will be tricky is ensuring that she has a correct balance between zinc, copper and magnesium.

She has over the past couple of months been increasing the amount of copper containing foods she eats by eating things such as shrimp, clams and other shell fish on occasion the benefit of this is that these foods often also contain levels of both zinc and copper in ideal ratios. However, I do not think it is likely she is getting a sufficient amount from her diet or rather the amount she is getting will not be enough to counter a deficiency.

 

[High_Prob]

The Science of Parkinson's

Amazing blog by a research scientist in the field. He covers aspirin (extremely low doses to increase Tyrosine Hydroxalase thereby increasing dopamine activity in Substantia Nigra and Striatum). He also covers B3.

 

[Soren]

The Science of Parkinson's

Amazing blog by a research scientist in the field. He covers aspirin (extremely low doses to increase Tyrosine Hydroxalase thereby increasing dopamine activity in Substantia Nigra and Striatum). He also covers B3.

This is great many thanks for sharing.

 

[brocktoon]

The Science of Parkinson's

Amazing blog by a research scientist in the field. He covers aspirin (extremely low doses to increase Tyrosine Hydroxalase thereby increasing dopamine activity in Substantia Nigra and Striatum). He also covers B3.

Yes, this fellow's PD blog is very thorough and well written -- helpful stuff for those trying to understand a complex, confounding disease.

 

[LeeLemonoil]

Mito-Fisson/Fusion andDopamine ... the whole sheebang.



The Interaction of Mitochondrial Biogenesis and Fission/Fusion Mediated by PGC-1α Regulates Rotenone-Induced Dopaminergic Neurotoxicity. - PubMed - NCBI

The Interaction of Mitochondrial Biogenesis and Fission/Fusion Mediated by PGC-1α Regulates Rotenone-Induced Dopaminergic Neurotoxicity.

Abstract
Parkinson's disease is a common neurodegenerative disease in the elderly, and mitochondrial defects underlie the pathogenesis of PD. Impairment of mitochondrial homeostasis results in reactive oxygen species formation, which in turn can potentiate the accumulation of dysfunctional mitochondria, forming a vicious cycle in the neuron. Mitochondrial fission/fusion and biogenesis play important roles in maintaining mitochondrial homeostasis. It has been reported that PGC-1α is a powerful transcription factor that is widely involved in the regulation of mitochondrial biogenesis, oxidative stress, and other processes. Therefore, we explored mitochondrial biogenesis, mitochondrial fission/fusion, and especially PGC-1α as the key point in the signaling mechanism of their interaction in rotenone-induced dopamine neurotoxicity. The results showed that mitochondrial number and mass were reduced significantly, accompanied by alterations in proteins known to regulate mitochondrial fission/fusion (MFN2, OPA1, Drp1, and Fis1) and mitochondrial biogenesis (PGC-1α and mtTFA). Further experiments proved that inhibition of mitochondrial fission or promotion of mitochondrial fusion has protective effects in rotenone-induced neurotoxicity and also promotes mitochondrial biogenesis. By establishing cell models of PGC-1α overexpression and reduced expression, we found that PGC-1α can regulate MFN2 and Drp1 protein expression and phosphorylation to influence mitochondrial fission/fusion. In summary, it can be concluded that PGC-1α-mediated cross talk between mitochondrial biogenesis and fission/fusion contributes to rotenone-induced dopaminergic neurodegeneration.

 

[Soren]

Been looking at some more research with regards to Haidut's recent supplement that improves glucose metabolism.

I think there is a lot of promise here.

 

[Goobz]

Following this thread with interest.

I'm hopeful that a multi pronged approach will prove very beneficial for PD in the future. Multiple B vitamins seem to be alone - I've heard theories of PD now for almost every B vitamin being "the solution" for PD - Costantini with high dose thiamine, seen a study with riboflavin and low iron diet, nicotinamide riboside / NAD+ seems to be a big help, Stasha Gominak believes PD is linked to B5 deficiency, B6 and PD link has been around for a long time, B12 too. I.e. almost all the Bs!

Anyone have any suggestions on how to increase copper? Liver is a good source, but it's also very high in iron, which seems to be a problem in PD.

The health store I asked at didn't know about copper supplements, saying most people got it from diet, and just sold zinc to balance too much copper. Had no advice for increasing copper.

 

[LeeLemonoil]

Cocoa is a copper source and might be beneficial with PD due to its neuro-protective and dopaminergic properties.

Don’t forget Riboflavin, Pubmed search has results for that too. It’s a neurometabolic disease after all and mitochondria get impaired quickly.

Lapacho can increase the NAD/NADH-ratio in the cells while B3 might not be able to do that in an already diseased state.

 

[Goobz]

Cocoa is a copper source and might be beneficial with PD due to its neuro-protective and dopaminergic properties.

Don’t forget Riboflavin, Pubmed search has results for that too. It’s a neurometabolic disease after all and mitochondria get impaired quickly.

Lapacho can increase the NAD/NADH-ratio in the cells while B3 might not be able to do that in an already diseased state.

Haven't forgotten Riboflavin (mentioned it above but only briefly) but had never heard of Lapacho, so am looking into that. Thanks!

 

[Levi1989]

Hi, has there been any updates on this? Thank you for your input so far.