Category: Parkinsons Research

Selected reports of Parkinsons research report evidence that reveal the various causes of Parkinsons disease and natural therapies that offer the opportunity to reverse its symptoms.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

November 7, 2024 / manabunnow4zph / 0 Comments

How TMS Works:

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) uses magnetic fields to induce electrical currents in specific regions of the brain. A coil placed on the scalp generates a magnetic pulse, which can influence neuronal activity. Depending on the frequency and pattern of stimulation, TMS can either excite or inhibit brain regions, offering therapeutic effects.

TMS for Tremors:

TMS may help in treating tremors by targeting brain areas associated with motor control, like the primary motor cortex or basal ganglia. The idea is to either inhibit overactive neural circuits or enhance underactive circuits that contribute to tremor activity.

For example:

Parkinson’s disease tremor may be related to disrupted communication between the basal ganglia and the cortex. TMS could modulate this communication to reduce tremor.
Essential tremor is thought to involve abnormal brain activity in the cerebellum, and TMS might help adjust the neural firing patterns contributing to the tremors.

Below is the abstract from a 2024 review study that reported spectacular results when using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) for Parkinson’s symptoms and tremors specifically.

Hellyon. 2024 Jun 12;10(12):e32799. Differential symptom cluster responses and predictors to repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment in Parkinson’s disease: A retrospective study

Abstract

Background: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is an effective noninvasive neuromodulation technique for Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, the efficacy of rTMS varies widely between individuals. This study aimed to investigate the factors related to the response to rTMS in PD patients.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the response of 70 idiopathic PD patients who underwent rTMS for 14 consecutive days targeting the supplementary motor area (SMA) in either an open-label trail (n = 31) or a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial (RCT) (n = 39). The motor symptoms of PD patients were assessed by the United Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale Part III (UPDRSIII). Based on previous studies, the UPDRSIII were divided into six symptom clusters: axial dysfunction, resting tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia affecting right and left extremities, and postural tremor. Subsequently, the efficacy of rTMS to different motor symptom clusters and clinical predictors were analyzed in these two trails.

Results: After 14 days of treatment, only the total UPDRSIII scores and rigidity scores improved in both the open-label trial and the RCT. The results of multiple linear regression analysis indicated that baseline rigidity scores (? = 0.37, p = 0.047) and RMT (? = 0.30, P = 0.02) positively predicted the improvement of UPDRSIII. The baseline rigidity score (? = 0.55, P < 0.0001) was identified as an independent factor to predict the improvement of rigidity.

Conclusion: This study demonstrated significant improvements in total UPDRSIII scores and rigidity after 14-day Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) treatment, with baseline rigidity scores and RMT identified as predictors of treatment response, underscoring the need for individualized therapy.

Robert Rodgers PhD
Founder 2004
Parkinsons Recovery

Recent Research has Profound Implications for Understanding the Causes of Parkinsons Symptoms

April 9, 2018 / manabunnow4zph / 1 Comment

Have you drawn the conclusion that the fungal infection on your toes or the black spots on your hands have nothing to do with the causes of Parkinson’s symptoms?

It is now time to reevaluate that conclusion.

Many people who experience the symptoms of Parkinsons disease are convinced the causes of Parkinson’s symptoms reside in the brain and only the brain. After all – how can an infection in your hands spread to your brain?

A plethora of recent research however suggests the cause of Parkinsons symptoms could well originate in the gut or in toxins lodged at the extremities. Despite this compelling body of evidence, many remain unconvinced.

A revolutionary discovery by Neil Theise and his colleagues from a New York University School of Medicine study published in Scientific Reports may shift your opinion. Heretofore unseen and unacknowledged transportation highways exist throughout the body. They occupy the in-between spaces in the body which is why they have never been seen. Until now that is.

A fluid filled type of latticework of connective tissue has been discovered to exist throughout the body including the digestive organs, arteries and vital organs. It occupies – – of all things – the in-between spaces. This is a revolutionary discovery. Advanced electron microscopy shows collagen bundles that look like long, snaky cells ebb and flow much like the tides of the ocean.

This new discoveries means, in a nutshell, that toxins and bacteria lodged anywhere in the body can be transported to any location including the brain. If you have concluded that those dark spots on your hands or that fungus on your toes have nothing to do with your symptoms, might I now suggest otherwise.

Dark blemishes are usually indications of toxins or infections which the body disperses to the extremities (hands, arms, feet, legs, head) to protect vital organs. This may well be only a temporary measure. The recent discovery about a hidden transportation highway means that toxins lodged at the extremities today may be transported to the brain or vital organs tomorrow.

Most of the discussion about this recent discovery pertains to cancers for obvious reasons. Implications for neurological conditions are also profound.

The bottom line: Get serious about detoxing. Take steps to strengthen your immune system. That fungus growing on your big toe may wind up in your brain.

Robert Rodgers PhD
Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease
www.parkinsonsdisease.me

Case Study Approach to Parkinsons Research

March 11, 2012 / manabunnow4zph / 0 Comments

HI Robert: I very much appreciate your case study approach to Parkinsons research to identify relief and even occasional cures. I have Parkinson’s Disease and I am an engineer/scientist. I am concerned that some of those who have found cures or relief from their symptoms may not have actually had PD. As you know, PD is very difficult to diagnose correctly and is frequently misdiagnosed. Some PD symptoms are caused by other conditions.

Do you screen your success cases for the following two criteria: diagnosed by a movement disorder neurologist and (2) has a positive response to dopamine replacement. If the success stories meet this standard, then I personally believe you have a true success.

Please don’t get me wrong. I am 100% on your side and I have read your first book and found a lot of uplifting and good ideas in the book. I want nothing more than to find a cure for my PD. By the way, I submitted a saliva sample to 23andMe and even though I have PD I have no genetic markers for PD. This would suggest something in my environment was the cause.

Keep up the good work.

Larry

I am approaching my research with Parkinsons in a way very differently than has been my standard approach in my previous research contributions. Previously I would have set up in the beginning a long string of data fields for each person I have interviewed (and there are many). I would have ask each person this long list of questions – you identify several good ones above – and coded them into the data set. I of course would also have interviewed people without Parkinsons as “controls” and asked them the same questions.

When I had a sample size of 500 or so, I would have begun to crunch the numbers and provided a wide variety of statistical analyses. This approach succeeds in getting published in the best of journals.

It does not succeed in helping us understand the complexities of the causes of neurological symptoms associated with Parkinsons. I decided if I was ever going to make a contribution to the world of science I had to step out of the box I had crammed myself into for 20 years and approach the research in a different way.

My new approach has yielded incredible insights into what is really happening with people who currently experience neurological challenges. These insights have come from interviewing people with symptoms associated with a diagnosis of Parkinson’s who have stories to tell about what helps and what does not help. In science, the approach is known as “grounded research” which is a fancy word for case study research.

My former research – which was very quantitative – is viewed as much more prestigious at universities than the less admired and valued case study research approach. It is also usually much easier to publish. I succeeded with the quantitative approach and was generously rewarded with tenure and promotions to full professor.

The lesson I have learned from adopting the quantitative approach is that the quantitative approach yields few insights and fewer discoveries. I have concluded there is wisdom and great value in the case study approach.

I also believe it has been useful from a research perspective to step away from the “box” of having been diagnosed with Parkinsons Disease. I defer to the medical doctors to follow down that pathway. They have the qualifications and training to diagnose. Only with a diagnosis can they prescribe the medications.

As you point out, many people are misdiagnosed because there is no definitive test for Parkinsons to begin with. This is no fault of the doctors since there is no definitive test for Parkinsons. For my research, it does not help to start with a diagnosis since so many are wrong.

For example, if my sample is confined to people who have a Parkinson’s diagnosis, a surprising proportion would actually wind up having Lyme disease. My potential sample of case study subjects is not confined only to people who are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease by a medical doctor. But in actuality, most if not all of my interview subjects have been diagnosed with PD.

What helps is simply to acknowledge the symptoms a person is experiencing which are associated with Parkinson’s Disease. The focus is then placed on the symptoms rather than a label of Parkinson’s Disease. When we begin to focus on symptoms, we jump out of a box of constrained and preconceived notions about Parkinson’s. The door is open to endless possibilities.

We are discovering that the causes of neurological problems associated with the symptoms of Parkinsons Disease include a long list of contributing factors. If people can determine which factors are relevant to their situation, they can find a therapy or treatment that can help resolve whatever symptoms are being experienced.

Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Founder 2004
Parkinsons Recovery
Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease

Voice Profiles of Persons with Parkinsons

April 13, 2011 / manabunnow4zph / 0 Comments

Sharry Edwards from Sound Health has been systematically analyzing voice profiles of persons with Parkinsons and the commonalities across them that have been taken of people with Parkinsons symptoms. Some of the profiles were taken from listeners of my radio show. Others were taken from people who attended the Parkinsons Recovery Summit this year.

I pronounce the following without reservation: You are going to be truly amazed at what she has discovered. You will also be very surprised about the factors she has identified that are common to Parkinson’s Disease. Her research discoveries will inspire a different approach to the diagnosis and treatment of Parkinson’s symptoms.

Get ready to be excited and dazzled. This interview will knock your socks off without even taking your shoes off. Sharry ws joined by Dr. Roman Chrucky, MD, who will discuss his own experience with voice profiling.

Voice profiles of persons with Parkinsons offer insights into the causes of symptoms and treatments that can effectively address the. This is the medicine of the future. The exciting part is that it is available to us all now.

With a critical body of data available, Sharry has done an analysis and found some fascinating deficiencies and factors that are common to the people studied. This show is well worth taking an hour and a half to hear. It could well change your life.