The Parkinson's revolution fits on a single sheet of paper.

Wise and brave neurologists have dared -it is not easy to get out of the dominant discourse- to leave us in books and to recommend us in scientific studies these true treasures. Changes that should always be supervised by the neurologist of each patient. Not a step backwards but with the necessary prudence.

I am not a neurologist but I am a historian, a digital journalist and I can search the libraries and databases to find and read the compassionate and sufficiently heterodox and brilliant neurologists: Karobath, Birkmayer, Fahn, Jenner, Mattson... Some of the most respected names in the last 50 years of orthodox Neurology about Parkinson's.

 

 

Every day, but always consulting the neurologist first:

- Vitamin D3 above 1200 IU per day as Suzuki in 2013 (although already in 2018 Hiller dared to use 10,000);
- the B vitamins against homocysteine recommended by Dr. Ahlskog and some more (1000-2000 mcg B12, 2.5 mg B9 and 25 mg of B6);
- and vitamin B2 above or near 90 mg per day of the experiment of Coimbra in 2003 - although Schoenen used 200-400 mg at day for migraines with children and adults without the slightest problem, in the 90s);
- vitamin C above 3 grams per day as used by Fahn in 1992...

A conversation with N, a friend of mine and patient of Parkinson

“A conversation with N, a friend of mine and patient of Parkinson

“Nothing in life is to be feared,
it is only to be understood.
Now is the time to understand more,
so that we may fear less”.
Marie Curie

 

A mutual friend explains me by phone and in summary the case of N and she asked me out for coffee home and to talk to her, because she had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease long time ago and she was very worried and depressed.

Shy and retiring, I was greeted rather coldly. We sat and talked about some irrelevant issues to ease the tension. I thought that I must first win her trust.

N. was a retired officer, about 70 years and she was overwhelmed by parkinsonian symptoms. They are beginning to show their true face and also she felt her neurologist didn´t understand nor paid attention, etc.

First of all I made it clear I was not a doctor and that's what was going to tell him it was the result of my experience as a caregiver for the past 10 years of my father's life. I was talking about the trauma of diagnosis, the fear of the future, the fear to lose work, family and friends, lack of empathy with your doctor, etc., and she was nodding almost all these things that I mentioned. She recognized them as her own.

I told her about the case of “healing” of a woman named “Fátima” in a book of the neurologist Dr. Rafael Gonzalez Maldonado (we had taken as a real case, being actually a fictionalized reconstruction from several clinical cases), the case of Dr. Mark Peter Hurni, alleged cases of "self-healing" (Annetta Freeman, Howard Shifke, John Pepper), paradoxical kinesia, the amazing momentary health improvement of my father for a few minutes in 2010, the hope produced by the hundreds of millions of dollars that the Michael J. Fox Foundation collected for research studies, the spectacular videos of doctors Birkmayer and Permultter, the video of the blue glasses to control terrible dyskinesias caused by the medication in a patient, etc.

Once our friend and hostess left the living room to bring us something from the kitchen, I told her that there were many reasons for hope, that I would print her the scientific studies she wanted and I would teach her videos of those famous neurologists with the spectacular results (intravenous glutathione therapy with Dr. Perlmutter and intravenous NADH therapy with Dr. Birkmayer).

She began to mourn.
I imagine that the view of everything, unknown until then, was really difficult emotionally.

I explained her what my father and I were lost and confused so many years, that there was an official orthodox Neurology, which had advanced a lot, but not enough for the patients and their families (my father and I felt it in this way and also many others we talk to), but that there was another Neurology as scientific or more than the previous one, but that it looked for other ways. Sometimes the same neurologist had gone through two phases, such as Walther Birkmayer, firstly one of the “fathers” of levodopa and later one of the greatest "heretics" in the Parkinson world by proposing NADH (a form of vitamin B3) as an alternative and/or complement to the almost sacred "Levodopa". This "other Neurology" remained outside the official channels because, in our opinion, it had not yet been allowed to show its results in the daily clinic.

I recommended her that she buy the first two books of neurologist doctor Gonzalez Maldonado and even she go to his office in Granada (Spain), if possible.

I told her that Genetics, drugs and surgery had limitations, I told her about the importance of "antiparkinsonian" foods, the importance of the Sun and vitamin D, involved in 33 diseases and thousands of genes, the need for a physical activity as intense as possible approved by her neurologist and adapted to her personal circumstances, changing emotions, laughing, crying, getting angry, putting on music throughout the day ... imagining a weighing scale with a positive cymbal and another negative. In the first one she had to accumulate all the factors against Parkinson's disease that she could. In the second, she had to eliminte from her life all the possible factors that are believed to favor the disease. Tens, hundreds. And always consult everything with the neurologist. If it did not hurt you, go ahead. Wisely, but with perseverance.

The farewell was very different from what happened just an hour and a half before. She hugged me and gave me two kisses. She whispered: "Thank you, you've given me the courage to live and fight".

Now N. was much less shaking, his face was more expressive and she smiled.
That was one of the most enriching experiences in recent years.”


--------


Note in October 2020:
Before publishing this text again, written sometime between 2012 and 2014, I had mixed feelings. On the one hand, sadness and anger for not knowing more then to be able to help her more. And on the other hand, a deep joy, when I realized that the years of effort and the thousands of hours dedicated to searching and reading, sharing and enriching myself in the chat of our community, have borne fruit: we now know a hundred times more than 6 or 7 years ago.
 

Autopsies tell us the secrets of Parkinson's...

The brains of Parkinson's patients tell us the secrets of the disease at autopsy... 

 

"How much truth can a man bear?

Error is not blindness, error is cowardice". 

Friedrich Nietzsche

 

What Parkinson's screams at us in autopsy, once we cross the last border. The same thing prevents the disease, controls the symptoms, slows its progression... It's the same thing! There are hardly any differences, except for nuances. It is the final scene of a drama that lasts a lifetime: oxidation, inflammation... vulnerable points that are not reinforced... 

The panorama, like battlefields or cities destroyed by war... 

 

 

For 50 years we have walked lost through the Parkinsonian maze without knowing where we were or why we were locked up there. But that has changed thanks to the increasingly luminous and enlightening books and studies of dozens, hundreds of brilliant and courageous neurologists, as well as other neuroscience experts (Ahlskog, Coimbra, Shults, Birkmayer, Karobath, Suzuki, Monti, Perlmutter, Sechi, González Maldonado, Marjama Lyons, Mandel, Hurni, Braak, Fahn, etc.) Hundreds of old studies (Jenner, McGeer, Mattson, Coimbra, Powers...) tell us what Parkinson's is and thousands of more recent studies (Alberts, Suzuki, Marashly, Monti, Schaeffner...) show us everything we need to have a fairly clear view of the puzzle solved, although still with our eyes slightly closed. Important details are missing, but the essential is already known. As long as we do not turn our backs on Nature and leave aside our arrogance to recognize that we had entered "the world of Parkinson's" in a block in a dead end or also endless (we could continue on the current path 100 or 200 years without finding anything significant to improve the daily life of patients and family caregivers. I would bet my life on it).

The last frontier to which I refer in the title is death. The autopsies they have done on the brains of deceased Parkinson's patients not only confirm everything we already know, but seem to point us in the same direction. And they have recently been confirmed with brain-scanning techniques when the patients are still alive. The studies that have been carried out "post mortem" tell us that in the brains of Parkinsonians there was (especially in the famous and vulnerable "sustantia nigra") a brutal oxidation and inflammation, as well as an alteration of everything: mitochondria, glutathione, coenzyme Q10, NADH, etc. Multiple factors, multiple deficiencies. A growing chaos over the years because it is not corrected, but rather gasoline is poured into the fire: 

 

1) many traces point to an intense OXIDATION (Jenner already said it since 1992), that's why so many antioxidants prevent the disease and slow down or reduce the severity of the symptoms (folate or vitamin B9 prevents Parkinson's by 49% and regulates the severity of the symptoms by reducing the level of the neurotoxic and still underestimated homocysteine); 

 

 2) very clear signs of NEUROINFLAMATION (as indicated by McGeer, a world-renowned neurologist on Alzheimer's disease) The traces of this inflammation are the activation of microglia and the remains of pro-inflammatory molecules: cytokines, interleukin, etc (Block 2007, McGeer 2008). Those who have taken non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin prevent Parkinson's by 46%, as well as natural anti-inflammatory drugs such as ginger, curcumin (which crosses the barrier that protects the brain), the polyphenols of green tea, the omega 3 DHA (Yamamoto 2005, 47% less dementia according to Schaeffer 2006), etc. Alpha-synuclein plays an important role in this inflammation (Zhang 2005, Lee 2008, Reynolds 2008, Su 2009). Magnesium and green tea protect the nervous system and prevent the aggregation of both iron- and spontaneously produced alpha-synuclein (Golts 2002); 

 

3) neurotoxic accumulations of IRON (Antonini 1993) and ALUMINIUM (Yasui 1992). Possibly the lack of essential vitamins to correctly metabolize iron - such as riboflavin - produce these accumulations. Green tea and alpha lipoic acid are chelators (antidotes, eliminators) of iron (Koonyosying 2018, Tai 2020). Autopsies or laser analyzers detect accumulations of iron in the brain, especially in the basal ganglia and substantia nigra (Dexter 1991, 1992, Good 1992, Linert 2000). The iron produces a greater oxidation that feeds back and enters a vicious circle that would explain the progressive worsening of the disease (Linert 2000). In parkinsonian autopsies there are aluminum deposits in the basal ganglia and gray substance (Perl 1982, Yasui 1991, 1992). Its "antidote" or chelator is magnesium, so deficient in the current average westernized diet and so worn out by the stress of modern life (magnesium is the anti-stress mineral that regulates the necessary and dangerous cortisol), that aluminum and other heavy metals ravage the brain. Turmeric is also a lethal enemy of aluminum (Laabdar 2016). 

 

4) an almost total lack of GLUTATHION (Perry 1982, 1986, Pearce 1997, Sian 1994, Arakawa 2007), the main antioxidant of "sustantia nigra". It is not rare, since in the advanced stages of the disease there is only 2% left (Adams 1991). Vitamin C is the most important external antioxidant to protect the neurons of the hydroxyl groups, so linked to Parkinson's. To cross the blood-brain barrier as if it were glucose, the membrane of the neuron and that of the mitochondria is converted into dehydroascorbic acid (the oxidized form of the prodigious vitamin C) that would have to be brought back to life - reduced - by glutathione. But there is a serious problem: there is hardly any left. In autopsies, no trace of glutathione has been found in the substantiantia nigra; 

 

5) And pathologists see the brain of Parkinson's patients as an old battlefield: damage to mitochondria in complex I of cellular respiration (Parker 2008); Lewy bodies and alterations of alpha-synuclein (Zhang 2005, Lee 2008, Reynolds 2008, Su 2009), etc. 

 

The "father" of modern medicine, Dr. William Osler referred to Parkinson's more than a century ago as an accelerated aging of the brain. In another powerful image, someone spoke as if the brain was on fire and had to be "put out" with antioxidants and anti-inflammatories (Wang 2006, Sanders 2013), liver protectors (Lombard, Marjama Lyons), probiotics for the "second brain" (Gershon, Bercik, Tillish, Scheperjans)... 

 

I recommend watching the documentary "The Mystery of Alzheimer's", available in Spanish on Youtube. And read a lot between the lines or watch between the frames... because the world around Alzheimer's and Parkinson's is very similar. 

 

The brains of Parkinson's patients in autopsies are destroyed like an old battlefield, like a ravaged city. But as the scientific police, as detectives, we are reconstructing what has happened... so we will know how to avoid it. But with the "weapons" of Nature (EGCG, allicin, quercetin, resveratrol, curcumin, magnesium, melatonin...). 

 

NOTE: This is a draft I am working on now for the book. I am sharing it with you because I am touching the target with my fingers. This is what I mean when I ask for your help so as not to postpone it now for material reasons or not to go all the way because of lack of books and sufficient medical journal studies. You see how everything in the world of Parkinson's screams out to us: it's the vitamins, minerals and trace elements, phytochemicals, fats, etc.! I hope to be able to convey the passion with which I live what I am looking for and finding. Not only do we see on the floor of the labyrinth the clues that the wise men left us (Karobath, Sacks, Birkmayer, Riederer, Jenner, Mattson...), but the labyrinth itself speaks to us of the same thing: when everyone is silent, the child shouts: But the emperor is naked! As it happened to me in 2015, I already have "the whole book in my head". There's no going back until it's out, written and laid out. 

"Some things from the past are gone 

but others open a gap to the future 

 and they are the ones I want to rescue." 

 Mario Benedetti

 

Vitamin B2 is one key to ending Parkinson's

VITAMIN B2 IS ONE OF THE KEYS 
TO ENDING PARKINSON'S.

"Where life puts up walls,
intelligence opens a way out."
Marcel Proust

Please trust me. Read this short article to the end and tell me if we are not living in the midst of an extraordinary revolution that is going to end the world of Parkinson's - and therefore, the disease that bears that name. It is possibly one of the most liberating texts you will ever read about the disease. Don't miss this opportunity. Trust me. It has taken too much time and pain to gather this information from many wise people and millions of sick people and veteran family caregivers (my case).

Riboflavin or vitamin B2 is essential in human health, and therefore in Parkinson's. But one hundred, one thousand times more than I imagined.

The usual: water-soluble vitamin (the excess is eliminated through the urine) of the B group, essential functions in the metabolism of hydrates (energy), proteins (amino acids, neurotransmitters) and fats (cell membranes, nerves, energy). This is not insignificant.

Something else: Two of its coenzymes are essential: FAD and FMN. Almost as important as the pyridoxal phosphate of vitamin B6 or the NADH of vitamin B3 (I would bet that in these last three sentences is summarized more than 50% of the original Parkinson, before medication).
The FMN is necessary for the conversion of pyridoxine (vitamin B6) into its functional form, pyridoxal phosphate. Without it there is no dopamine.
FAD is necessary for the biosynthesis of niacin - or vitamin B3 or vitamin PP - from the amino acid tryptophan. So important in Parkinson's, that Walther Birkmayer, the father neurologist and heretic of levodopa, proposed NADH - vitamin B3 co-enzyme - to stimulate the internal production of dopamine instead of providing it from outside, in synthetic form (the precursor levodopa).

Foods rich in it are milk and cheese, beef liver and chicken and pork, eggs, brewer's yeast, whole grains and green vegetables, asparagus and broccoli.

But here's what's interesting to us:

When the amazing Coimbra and Junquiera study came out in 2003, the results were either ignored or relativised. But the exact question is not whether the study met the sometimes "draconian" standards of patentable products of a pharmaceutical industry that has billions to spend on whatever is needed. The right question is how it took so long to do so and how it might not have those results BEING THE B2 OR RIBOFLAVIN IMPRESSIBLE TO PRODUCE DOPAMINE, GLUTATHION AND ATP (THE MOLECULE OF ENERGY).

Its role in neuroprotection is already demonstrated (Marashly 2017) and it crosses the protective blood-brain barrier, reaching the neurons and astrocytes (Moriyama 2011).

It reduces the risk of developing Parkinson's by 51 % (McCormick 1988). And it produces a motor improvement in all cases in the study of 44-71 % at six months. As the months progress, the benefits are greater (Coimbra 2003). It plays a decisive role in complexes I and II of mitochondrial respiration, as well as being essential in the synthesis of glutathione and its recovery once oxidised (Powers 1999).

And if anything is missing, it has epigenetic potential (so far 90 genes are known to be encoded).

COIMBRA AND JUNQUEIRA 2003: I finally had time to read the entire 2003 Coimbra and Junqueira study. They were given 30 mg of riboflavin three times a day (every 8 hours, total: 90 mg daily). They eliminated red meat from their diet. All 31 patients were in advanced stages of Parkinson's. The level of vitamin B2 was deficient in all at the start. After 6 months, the motor capacity of all of them had improved between 44 and 71 % (according to the Hoehn and Yahr scale) with improvements in the difficult Parkinsonian night, sleep, reasoning, motivation and depression. And the improvement was correlated with the level of B2 in the blood.

I thought they went crazy using 90 mg a day. But in migraine studies, 400 mg daily was used without any problem (Schoenen 1994, 1999).

---

The video of the significant recovery of one of the 31 patients who benefited from Dr. Cicero Coimbra's study in 2003, using doses of 90 mg per day of vitamin B2 (riboflavin) In the video he talks about three months, but the maximum benefit was 6 months after the study started: 44 to 71% improvement in mobility (also in sleep, mood, etc.). It is likely that the improvement continued (after the video was recorded 17 years ago).

---


We keep looking for those legendary "unicorns": the balanced diet, the stem cell surgery they are researching at the Clinic such with money from some famous Foundation or whatever. They spend a lot of money so that everything changes... but that everything stays the same. When the keys to preventing and curing Parkinson's are right in front of our eyes, at our fingertips. All it takes is the right information, a change of mentality and the prudence to consult the specialist.

Vitamin B2, vitamin D, vitamin C (tb, its oxidized form, dehydroascorbic acid, which crosses the barriers as if it were glucose to help the neurons and mitochondria, being restored already inside by glutathione), oral NAC or intranasal glutathione, polyphenol extract from green tea such as Teavigo, vitamin B9 for homocysteine toxicity (possibly responsible for alpha-synuclein craziness and much of the damage to mitochondria), milk thistle (silymarin, silibilin)?

Is there anyone in the world who dares to tell me that this would not greatly improve the lives of patients and their families, especially in the early stages of the disease, when the treatments have not yet done much damage? What would produce in patients before treatment an effect so similar to a cure that no one could distinguish it from a significant improvement?

They led us to frightening dead ends, not surprising now that the revolution is triumphing... from thousands of studies that continue to appear every year as a liberating flood.

If after reading this I asked you at the beginning to read to the end, you don't get a big smile on your face and don't feel like dancing for joy, you have to read it again and again, until it pierces the thick layer of indoctrination we have received throughout our lives in this Matrix that controls almost everything. It took me 26 years, so it's no wonder I'm telling you this.

(This is a draft of a section of my future book, which will be in Spanish and English. Every page will be this relentless. Maybe more.)

If people knew... what Parkinson's is.

If people knew... what Parkinson's is.

 

If people knew how hard, how very hard Parkinson's can be, it would help us spread this information. Okay, not all of it, but not even vitamin B9 to control the neurotoxic homocysteine, just the right amount of vitamin B6 in 10-25 mg per day as indicated in the levodopa prospectus, or vitamin D to prevent and slow down the disease as much as possible? These are things that are as obvious as mountains that someone finds on the way. How many celebrities, how many scientists have I written to, and they haven't even answered.

If people only knew how easy it would be to help today's sick people to lead a much better life and almost stop them from getting worse: but studies are accumulating (vitamin D, vitamin C, folic acid, glutathione, magnesium, B12) and indifference, even more so.

If people knew how easy it would be to help those who are starting out, to turn their disease into something perfectly controllable (just by lowering homocysteine, restoring glutathione and providing the appropriate vitamin D - which we still don't know how much it is, due to lack of studies, but we can deduce it from existing studies: 1200 IU a day, seems like the minimum - unless the doctor's judgment is better than ours. Before taking levodopa, maybe plenty of B6 and avocado.

If people knew how easy it would be to raise awareness of people who may have a genetic predisposition or a history of dangerous events (certain drugs, brutal stress that is difficult to handle, insomnia, constipation, etc. ), with campaigns of green tea polyphenols in drinks and foods, all the B vitamins, vitamin D supplements and teaching the population to replenish vitamin D reserves by taking the sun correctly, resveratrol, vitamin C from foods and supplements, magnesium in fertilizers, information in prime time TV series, etc.

If people knew what Parkinson's was, as I do (and millions of sufferers and family members do), they would be eating nothing but carrots and tomatoes all their lives, if it were proven that it could cure Parkinson's, and if this were true and not just an illustrative and exaggerated example.

If people knew what Parkinson's was, they would not try to make money on the health of a mother who does not know how she will care for her two small children in the future, of a son who sees his father fade away, hunch over and have terrible nightmares, or of a young man who sooner than anyone should feel the beast's paw, already feels the disease lifting the walls of Cavafis or the bars of Rilke's panther cage.

And I put all this in because today we can avoid it. This was Parkinson's seen with 19th century eyes still in 2020. And not with the fresh, revolutionary vision of hundreds, thousands of studies that teach us how to "starve" the Beast and those who have given it their souls.

My dear and admired Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who knew the fields and illness, exile and fear, began his great work "Gulag Archipelago" in this way that I would like to make mine for a moment:

"To all those who did not live long enough
to tell these things.
And to be forgiven
if I didn't know how to see it all,
or remember everything,
nor was I able to intuit everything."

Or the memories of the poet Ana Ahmatova in her "Requiem", of a terrifying force:

"INSTEAD OF A PROLOGUE

In the terrible years of Yezhov I stood in line
For seven months in front of Leningrad's prisons.
Once someone recognized me. Then
A woman who was behind me, with her lips
Bluebirds, who naturally had never heard my name,
He woke up from the numbness that was common to all of us
And he whispered in my ear (there we all spoke in a low voice):
-And you can describe this?
And I said:
- I can.
Then something like a smile slipped onto what had once been his face."

The tragedy that Parkinson's patients experience every day is of such magnitude as the suffering of that "Soviet" people, of whom Solzhenitsyn and Akhmatova spoke. I know what I'm talking about. They are not studies, they are experiences from then and now, some that I lived and others that I read about every day.

I insist that it doesn't have to be like that anymore. It's up to us to say: "it's over. That's enough." And to act with courage and prudence. But not a single step backwards.

In my own way and with my many limitations, I too will try to "see it all" and "describe this".

And no, however much you insist, no: two and two are not five. Neither were they in the 19th century nor will they be in the 21st. Not as long as we can avoid it.

 No one can say they didn't know.

Welcome to "Parkinson's here and now" in 2020.

Welcome to "Parkinson's here and now" in 2020.

We only offer hope based on Science. Our sources are neurologists and other neuroscientists, we recommend always consulting with the neurologist and accepting levodopa, but only as long as there is nothing better and improving its effectiveness and correcting its adverse effects with the nutrients shown in the studies. Can there be anything more orthodox?

 

If you're tired of searching for information among tons of false news, commercials, columns of smoke, like on a merry-go-round, you may find reason for hope here. But real hope based on Science: in writings by neurologists, hundreds or thousands of scientific studies from the last 50 years, and testimonials and experiences from sick people and family caregivers.

What works is what interests us, whether it is levodopa-carbidopa with coenzyme Q10 or polyphenols from green tea, with 10-25 mg of vitamin B6 or milk thistle, or the amazing vitamin D3 supplement from the Suzuki study in 2013 or the wonderful riboflavin or vitamin B2 from the forgotten and doomed thousand-times study by Coimbra in 2003. Always with courage to search and prudence to try, consulting everything to the doctor.

 

This is a summary of almost 14 years of searching and about 26 years of looking at the world of Parkinson's since my father's diagnosis in 1994. I estimate that the result of more than 30,000 working hours.

1) Studies on DISEASE PREVENTION OR RISK REDUCTION:

 - with folic acid or B9, 49 % (Religa 2006);

 - with riboflavin or B2, 51 % (McCormick 1988);

 - coffee (caffeine, niacin, quercetin?), tobacco (nicotine?) and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs - not aspirin - by 87 % (Powers 2008);

 - with vitamin D in certain cases, 67 % (Knekt 2010);

 - with vitamin C, 40 % (Hellebrand 1996);

 - with vitamin E, between 32 and 39 % (Zhang 2002, Golbe 1988)

 - with flanonoids, 40 % (Gao 2012)

 - with beta-carotene, 32 % (Hellenbrand 1996)

 - with green tea, in regions where it is  

   usual: 50 % less Parkinson's (Pan 2003)

 - with coffee: usual consumption of 2-3 cups per day, 20-70 % (Ascherio 2001, Sobel 2000, Ross, 2000, 2001). Among those who never drink coffee, the disease occurs 5 times more often (Ross 2000, Hu 2007)

 - with tobacco, between 40 and 55%, and more (Grandinetti 1994, Hernan 2001, 2002, Gallo 2019).

2) There are several promising studies on the possibility of DELAYING, SLOWING PROGRESSION AND EVEN STOPING Parkinson's:

 - coffee, delays symptoms by 8 years, from 64 to 72 (Benedetti 2000);

 - green tea, delays symptoms 7.7 years (Kandinov 2009);

 - vitamin C and E, 3 grams and 3200 IU daily, for one year: delay of need for medication by 2.5 years (Fahn 1992).

 - Vitamin C stimulates dopamine production and enhances the effect of levodopa, making lower doses necessary (Zhao 2019);

- multivitamin (A, C and E): delay of symptoms by 3 years, identical twins, epigenetic? (Maher 2002).

 - physical exercise, slows it down (Oguh 2014) and delays it (Tsai 2002);

 - vitamin D, 1200 IU for one year, no worsening (Suzuki 2013).

 - glutathione (Sechi 1996).

 - coenzyme Q10 (Shults 2002)

 - creatine (Beal 2003).

 - antioxidants (Grimes 1988).

 - omega 3 (Youdim 2000, Saugstad 2006, 2008).

 - alpha lipoic acid (Araujo 2011).

 - vitamin E (Bischot 1993).

 - green tea, EGCG extract (Mandel 2002, Levites 2003).

3) IMPROVE SYMPTOMS, MOTORS AND NON-MOTORS, that is, the evolution of the disease:

 - vitamin B2 to improve mobility, 30 mg every 8 h, 44-71 % (Coimbra 2003);

 - intense physical exercise, 35 % improvement (Alberts 2009);

 - N-acetylcysteine or NAC, a precursor of glutathione, improves motor and non-motor skills (Monti 2019)

 - vitamin C to reduce oxidation and oxidative damage from levodopa residues (Riederer 1989, Pardo 1993, Berg 2001...);

 - milk thistle in capsules to protect the overloaded liver (300 mg per day, books by neurologists Lombard and Marjama-Lyons);

 - the folic acid to reduce the dangerous homocysteine (Ahlskog, Gonzalez Maldonado, etc.), alone or with B12 and B6

 - a low level of vitamin B12 worsens and the necessary improvement in motor and cognitive function (Christine 2018, McCarter 2019);

 - the omega-3 pearls EPA and DHA for depression and for many other things -thus avoiding excess protein, but essential in 50-80 grams to synthesize neurotransmitters- (Silva 2008);

 - Vitamin B6 from food, brewer's yeast or mild supplements, no more than 25 mg as mentioned in the levodopa leaflets - because without B6 there's no dopamine - and several neurologists in their books and studies, such as Ahlskog, Marjama Lyons, Siniscalchi.

 - vitamin B3 in appropriate doses and supervised by the specialist, to treat the mind and psychosis resulting from long-term medication (books and articles by the famous neuropsychiatrist Abram Hoffer);

 - numerous studies have found high percentages of neuropathy in Parkinson's patients compared to (healthy) controls Vitamin B12 deficiency is the most common cause (Zis 2017).

 - ketogenic diet (Vanitallie 2005). 43 % improvement in motor symptoms;

 - thiamin B1 (Luong 2012);

 - NADH (Black 1986);

 . vitamin B6 (Tan 2005);

 - GDNF (Gill 2005) - vitamin D regulates the gene that produces it;

 - glutathione (Sechi 1996).

4) According to the studies published so far, THE SEVERITY OF THE VERY DISEASE OR ITS SYMPTOMS depends on:

 - level of magnesium (Barbiroli 1999);

 - glutathione level (Perry 1982, Riederer 1989, Sechi 1996, Jenner 1998);

 - level of the toxic homocysteine (Yasui 2000, Muller 2001, Christine 2018, Saadat 2018);

 - level of B12 (Leigh 2018, Christine 2018, McCarter 2019).

 - vitamin D (Suzuki 2012, Liu 2014).

"To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle." George Orwell

We know enough II: that's the key to stopping it.

WE ALREADY KNOW ENOUGH (II).

What would I do if I had Parkinson's? 

                               As far as I know today, 3/31/2020.

 

This is a delicate question to ask for someone who does not have the disease. I asked myself that question many times while caring for my father (I write this again because there are many new readers, who will wonder how I dare to ask that question and propose an answer). And I have asked it again many more times since then. The truth is that in my father's lifetime we barely scratched the surface of Parkinson's. I will try to answer it honestly.

For the first time in the modern history of Parkinson's, thanks to magnificent studies, the Internet and the recommendations of some specialists (Ahlskog, Lombard, Marjama Lyons, Siniscalchi...), we can decisively influence the course of Parkinson's. We can change the Parkinson's labyrinth. To stop the degenerative waterfall with our own hands, which makes it a chronicle.

The key is not whether I will take Immunocal, Mucuna, Atremorine, Marian thistle or the Omega 3, but that all this must be done for the right reason in order to integrate it into a strategy to deprive Parkinson's of its food sources, to starve it:

1.- If Parkinson's feeds on OXIDATION (Jenner, Olanow) itself and more so on levodopa, that's why we take vitamin C, green tea, grape resveratrol, etc.

2.- If Parkinson's is fed by INFLAMATION (McGeer, Teismann, Sechi), that is why we try to take turmeric with a little black pepper (piperine), ginger, omega 3, vitamin C, pineapple (bromelain), red onion (quercetin), etc.
3 .- If Parkinson's feeds on a high level of HOMOCYSTEINE, so we look for foods rich in folate, folic acid or vitamin B9 (Ahlskog, Siniscalchi, Marjama Lyons), along with the richest natural supplement, brewer's yeast, and some mild supplement of 400 mcg or more (as taken by pregnant women to prevent damage to the developing child).
4 .- If Parkinson's is a lack of DOPAMINE in certain areas of the brain, so we try to give you enough vitamin B6 but not interfere with levodopa (up to 25 mg according to some neurologists and the prospects of levodopa, thanks to the carbidopa that carries levodopa since 1975). Vitamin B6 (the pyridoxal phosphate) is essential for converting levodopa to dopamine within the brain. Always consult your neurologist, because there are people who are very sensitive to vitamin B6. Sources: pistachios, brewer's yeast, vitamin and mineral supplements, etc.
5 .- If Parkinson's is fed by the weakness of the LIVER (already the traditional Chinese medicine related Parkinson's with a disorder of the liver more than 1000 years ago and there is even an encephalopathy caused by its malfunctioning), so we use the milk thistle (Lombard, Marjama Lyons). Also vitamin C, artichokes or glutathione.
6 .- If Parkinson's is nourished by SEDENTARISM and lack of physical exercise, we will give vitamin C (carnitine) and spinach (coenzyme Q10) to have energy and desire to spend it, while we take walks, do some exercise at home, practice the usual sports or dance tango, boxing well advised, etc. Always adapted to your own circumstances by the specialist.

And so a long etcetera: Vitamin D from the Sun and from supplements, omega 3 EPA and DHA pearls for Parkinson's in general and for depression in particular, etc.

As long as this is lacking in diets and treatments for Parkinson's, something very important will be missing.

When we begin to see Parkinson's in this way, we understand why it progresses as it does. And the ways to slow it down or stop it from progressing, depriving it of the environment it likes to keep growing. I think it's better understood that way. For explanations with scientific language we already have very good books, guides and studies.

Don't forget to always consult your doctor and pharmacist.

We know enough: that's the key to get out.

WE ALREADY KNOW ENOUGH (I).

This is the key to getting out of Parkinson's prison and the truth that we are reluctant to accept.

A call to change the way we view the disease and the treatments.

I know this from my own experience. And I've seen it in most of them over the last 10 or 15 years, which is when I've been most awake and attentive to these issues.

The most powerful treatment for Parkinson's is a change in the way we see everything: the disease, the treatments and the world around us (from large companies and health ministries to associations and the family itself).

If we do not see the disease in another way, we remain prisoners of the Parkinson's "labyrinth". Negative beliefs depress and paralyse us more than the disease. Two examples:

1. For 70 years it was believed that an adult could not create new neurons. Since 1998 it has been known that he can;

2. We have grown up with the idea and the fear that if we were born with certain genes, there is no solution: today we know that Epigenetics rules, that genes do not have the last word (vitamins like B12 and D or minerals like magnesium, activate or silence the genes, correct them).

I'm going to repeat several of the ESSENTIAL things I've learned over the years (1994-2020):

1. Vitamin B6 is as important in Parkinson's as levodopa and since 1975, when carbidopa is used, there are usually no problems with up to 25 mg a day (see the levodopa package insert).

2. If homocysteine is not controlled with vitamin B9 there is nothing to be done. Parkinson's will remain as we know it today.

3. The possibility that Parkinson's disease is caused or facilitated by multiple deficiencies (dopamine is one of them) opens up a new world.

4. Current Medicine has entered a dead end (possibly, it is just my opinion). dealing with parkinson's only with levodopa-carbidopa and a few other medications (without vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, B9, B12, C, D, etc), is like going into a boxing ring to fight a boxer and having one hand tied behind your back (maybe both).

5. Until something better than levodopa is discovered, we should make the most of it: minimum necessary dose, enhance its effectiveness with vitamins c and b3, correct its harmful effects with vitamin c, green tea, glutathione, milk thistle and vitamin b9.

6. Even if nothing of this is true, it is not harmful. And the mere fact of having hope, changes the prognosis of the disease in a decisive way. But it turns out that not only are there thousands of studies on the subject, but many more keep coming out. With only 100 studies from the last 3-5 years we could change everything.

7. We already know enough to significantly improve the lives of the sick people. But we still wait for a miracle results study, which seems to me as impossible as finding a unicorn. There is no pill or surgery capable of changing by itself the complexity of the damage that Parkinson's produces year after year (glutathione deficiency or excess homocysteine would be catastrophic if they were the only problem).

8. The house starts to be built on the foundation, not on the roof. If we don't control homocysteine with vitamin B9 or the oxidation of levodopa with vitamin c, there is little point in tango or boxing (very good things, but they form the roof, not the foundation).

I invite you to read what is written on the wall (at least the last 30 publications). But reading them over and over again will pierce the thick layer of prejudice and error that we all have about Parkinson's (in my case too, of course. I have to fight every day to get rid of them). If we don't look at Parkinson's in another way, there's nothing to be done.

No single supplement is strong enough against Parkinson's. The disease is a giant that can only be defeated by an army of "dwarves".

And I invite you to discuss any changes with your doctor and pharmacist (caution).

Remember, courage to be informed and prudence to make changes.

Parkinson's in a nutshell: No vitamin B6, no dopamine.

PARKINSON'S IN A NUTSHELL: 

NO VITAMIN B6, NO DOPAMINE. 

The more homocysteine, the worse the Parkinson's?

An elevated level of the amino acid homocysteine in the blood is neurotoxic and has been reported as a very important risk factor for developing Parkinson's, as well as cardiovascular disease and dementia in the general population (McCully 1969, Boushey 1995, Seshadri 2002). Homocysteine increases oxidative stress, compromises mitochondrial function, and ultimately leads to neuronal apoptosis or death. In addition, a strong link has been found between homocysteine and DNA damage and excitotoxicity. All of them with an essential role in neurodegeneration (Mattson 2002, Zoccolella 2006. Martignoni 2007).

A level above 20 micromoles/L, increases the risk of developing Parkinson's up to 8.64 times (Saadat 2018). The title of his study is very clear: "Serum Homocysteine Level in Parkinson's Disease and Its Association with Duration, Cardinal Manifestation, and Severity of Disease." It's worth reading again...

Parkinson's patients have high homocysteine and those taking levodopa even higher (Mattson 2003, Obeid 2007). Some authors claim that a high level is largely responsible for the current progression of the disease (Yasui 2000, Muller 2001). This seems so, so important to me, that I think it's worth reading several times...

It also crosses and damages the blood-brain barrier, which is responsible for protecting the brain (Beard 2011, Kanath 2006, Tyagi 2008). A supplement of vitamin B9 or folic acid (alone or with vitamins B6 and B12) has been shown to reduce the level of homocysteine (Reutens 2002, Siniscalchi 2005, Postuma 2006) and damage to the aforementioned protective barrier (Kalani 2014).

A diet rich in vitamin B9 prevents Parkinson's by 49% (Religa 2006).

Neurologists such as Alhskog, Marjama-Lyons, Siniscalchi, González Maldonado, etc. recommend the use of B9 or the three B vitamins (B6, B9 and B12).

Already in 1998, Malinow published the very interesting results of his study Fortification of cereals with 499 and 665 mg of folic acid,
increased vitamin B9 in the blood by 64.8% and 105.7%, respectively. And homocysteine decreased by 11.0% and 14.0% (Malinow 1998).

The use of folic acid is very well tolerated. Pregnant women are prescribed 400 mcg/day to prevent malformations in the fetus. Ahlskog recommends to its Parkinson patients 2 mg B9, 25 mg B6 and 2000 mcg (2 mg) B12 to control the levels of the dangerous homocysteine.

If Parkinson's could be seen as a parasitic plant that feeds on host roots, homocysteine would be one of the main, if not the most important, root. And its "antidote" is something simple, cheap and safe (Nallamothu 2000): vitamin B9 or folic acid, folate... alone or together with vitamins B6 and B12.

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I would like to recall the work of two scientists. 

The first one, the American pathologist Kilmer McCully, who was a pioneer in the investigation of the damage produced by high levels of homocysteine, especially to the cardiovascular system (1969) and who left us a surprising phrase: 

"Homocysteine is associated with more than a hundred diseases".

The second, to the Spanish neurologist Rafael González Maldonado, author of the book "Heterodox treatments in Parkinson's disease" (2004, 2013). He showed us already in those early dates the decisive importance of folic acid and homocysteine in Parkinson's disease. His book was key for my father and me. It has not yet been translated into English and other languages, despite being one of the most important books I know for patients and their families. One of the paradoxes of the Parkinson's world. 

Controlling homocysteine with vitamin B9 is still a pending subject in the Parkinson's world. I think it would change the disease as we know it today. Another one of those paradoxes that is so difficult to explain. 

WARNING: Despite the safety of folic acid or vitamin B9, it is always advisable to consult a neurologist in each case.