• Lessons…Learned

    I know this is my second post in less than 30 days! I think I have too much free time on my hands while practicing this social distancing routine! Today I will catch up with what’s happening in PD School 2020 and talk a bit about how I have implemented what I’ve learned so far. If you aren’t aware of Dr. Mischley’s PD School 2020 you can read more about it my posts here and here. And check out the coupon offer at the end of this post!

    The last lesson I covered was lesson 3 so I will quickly catch you up on lessons 4, 5, 6 & 7 just touching on highlights and things I found interesting. Lessons 4 and 5 cover the topics of food and nutrition. Lesson 4 discusses what to eat and lesson 5 discusses when and how to eat. In lesson 4 Dr Mischley covers foods that are “Good” for PwP and also foods that are “Bad” for PwP. The data to support the designation comes from the ongoing longitudinal research trial she runs at Bastyr University.

    The good foods below are listed in order of decreasing impact, that is fresh vegetables had a greater impact than fresh fruit and so on.

    • Fresh vegetables
    • Fresh fruit
    • Nuts and seeds
    • Fish (not fried)
    • Wine (yessssssssssssssss!)
    • Olive oil
    • Coconut oil
    • Fresh herbs

    The bad foods below are listed in order of greatest negative impact.

    • Canned fruit
    • Diet soda
    • Fried foods
    • Ice cream (noooooooooooo!)
    • Canned vegetables
    • Beef
    • Pasta
    • Soda

    She also discusses how eating can impact medication absorption particularly when you eat protein just before or just after taking your meds.  Various diets are discussed and her recommendation is go as vegan as you can and follow the Mediterranean diet.

    Lesson 6 discussed the laboratory tests she requests for her patients. Several of the tests are not normally requested by your neurologist or PCP and some are not covered by insurance or Medicare. She notes at the end of the lesson that she is working on trying to set something up to provide the test to any PwP at a reduced rate (she hopes around $500 instead of $2000).

    I was interested in this lesson because she pointed out that most PwP’s are low in both vitamins D and B12. A B12 deficiency can result in neuropathy, cognitive decline and loss of sense of smell. In addition tremor, trouble walking and balance may also be effected. Vitamin D deficiency can result in constipation, falls and balance issues, depression and cognitive decline.

    I have been taking both B12 (120mg) and D (2000 iu) supplements for the last several years. My PCP tested me for both vitamins this year and I was within range as far as the lab was concerned. Dr Mischley provides her recommended reference range for the tests and I am below her recommended range in both. I was particularly surprised at the vitamin D result with all the sunshine I get here playing tennis, etc. Looks like I need to increase my supplement amounts of both vitamins.

    She covers several other lab tests she conducts and why and I think you will find this lesson very interesting.

    Lesson 7 discusses gut and intestinal health. This lesson includes a presentation by Dr Samantha Evans who practices with Dr Mischely in Seattle. Dr Mischely provides the introduction and overview pointing out that 50% of the dopamine neurons are located in your intestinal tract. She also discusses the need for gastric acid to breakdown food and medications. She points out as we get older the gastric juice becomes less acidic and recommended taking our medication with a glass of water mixed with 500 mg powered vitamin C to increase the acid level.

    Dr Evans discusses how much of what happens in the intestinal tract impacts PwP’s. She discusses SIBO (Small Intestine Bacteria Overgrowth) and Leaky Gut and how it impacts PwP, particularly medication absorption issues.

    So there are a few highlights from lessons 4,5,6, and 7. The next class is Do I need to take supplements? and will be available on the 28th of the month.

    Quick timeout for some fine print! Before I discuss how I have implemented parts of these classes I just want to remind everyone I am not a medical practitioner and you shouldn’t rely on the information below as an alternative to medical advice from your doctor or other professional healthcare providers. If you have any specific questions about any medical matter you should consult your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice, or discontinue medical treatment because of information on It Is What It Is .

    And we are back.

    I have enjoyed these classes and have started trying to put some of what I have learned in to practice. In lesson 2, Dr Mischley discusses the success she has had with treating dyskinesia with high doses of DHA fish oil for 30 days and then adding CDP Citicoline twice a day to improve absorption of Levadopa. Since we eat salmon 4-6 days a week, I decided to test taking the CDP Citicoline as she recommended (2 250 mg capsules twice a day).

    I began the test on February 2 and tracked the effects daily through April 4. As she mentioned in the lesson, my dyskinesia actually started getting worse because the supplement was improving the uptake of the medication and after 3 weeks I started to slowly reduce the amount of Sinement,Rytary and Mirapex over the next two months. My goal was to reduce my levadopa intake, reduce dyskinesia and not increase off periods.

    By April 4 I had reduced the Mirapex from 1.5 mg to .5 mg (67%) and my Sinement from 2.5 tablets 3 times a day to 2 tablets 3 times a day (20% reduction). My dyskinesia is barely noticeable and off episodes are unchanged. I believe I could stop taking the Mirapex completely except the .5 mg helps reduce my restless leg syndrome which I had before my PD diagnoses but went away with the Mirapex which is also prescribed for restless leg.

    I have also tried to do a better job of not taking meds too close to mealtime particularly high protein meals. And I have reduced my dairy intake, even ice cream! I’ve ordered some powered vitamin C which should arrive next week and I will test out taking medications with water mixed with vitamin C. Now if I could just figure out how to get Dr Mischely to remove ice cream from the bad food list!!

    Just In!! It’s Parkinson’s Awareness Month and Dr Mischley is offering a coupon for $50 off the PC School for this month (All 24 courses for $100). If you haven’t signed up or have friends or relatives that might find this program useful, please send them this link to the course and the coupon code: AWARENESS. http://pd-school.teachable.com/

  • World PD Day 2020

    First and foremost, I hope this post finds you and your families well and hunkered down as we wait out the COVID-19 pandemic.  It is an unprecedented time in our lives and I have no idea how it will all end up but I have the cleanest hands in the neighborhood!

    Today, April 11th, is World Parkinson’s Day, a part of Parkinson’s Awareness month.  In past years, we have celebrated with Parkinson’s Disease walks and last year we moved our Pedaling for PD class out into the lobby of the YMCA to bring attention to PD and the need for exercise.  But this year we can only act alone to raise awareness about PD as we stay in to prevent COVID-19.

    This month I read a new book about Parkinson’s Disease – Ending Parkinson’s Disease, A Prescription for Action.  The books co-authors show that the increasing numbers of PwP has made PD the fastest growing brain disorder in the world.  The number of PwP’s has doubled from 3 million to over 6 million in 25 years and they predict it will double again to over 12 million by 2040.  As a result they feel  PD is a world wide pandemic.

    The book is co-authored by four leading doctors and advocates for PD:

    Ray Dorsey MD who directs the Center for Health + Technology at the University of Rochester. He has used telemedicine to improve care for individuals with Parkinson’s disease and I have participated in several clinical trials where he has pioneered the use of technolgy particularly cell phones and live video to improve diagnoses and treatment of PD.

    Todd Sherer PHD is the Chief Executive Officer of The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. Trained as a neuroscientist, he is responsible for the Foundation’s overall scientific and fundraising direction to speed treatment breakthroughs and a cure for Parkinson’s disease.

    Michael S Okun MD is Chair of Neurology at the University of Florida. He established the Movement Disorder Clinic at the University of Florida bringing together Neurologists, Speech Therapists, Occupational Therapists and Physical Therapists for a complete evaluation of the patient.  You can read my blog post about our experience when we went to the University of Florida for a second opinion here.

    Bastiaan R Bloem, MD, PHD is professor of neurology and the director of the Centre of Expertise for Parkinson & Movement Disorders at Radboud University Medical Centre in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. In 2004, with Dr. Marten Munneke, he created ParkinsonNet, the largest integrated-care program for Parkinson’s patients. 

    The authors propose a PACT to Prevent the disease, Advocate for protective policies, Care for patients, and Treat the condition with innovative therapies.

    Prevent – They point out that stopping the use of chemical pesticides and solvents and recognizing the impact of head traumas would help to prevent PD and lead to a large reduction in newly diagnosed PwP world wide.

    Advocate – They point out the need to educate the public  about the worldwide Parkinson’s pandemic. The book discusses the campaigns to end or treat Polio, HIV, and Breast Cancer as examples.

    Care – They discuss providing care for PwP’s  including in home care by healthcare workers trained in caring for PD patients.  They point out that care must be covered by health insurance including Medicare. In addition they discuss the need for each of us to take actions such as exercising to improve our own care. By the way, they have an excellent discussion about Pedaling for PD during the chapter about exercising to prevent and/or slow the progression of PD.

    Treat – The final section deals with the need to take charge of the research process and make sure new treatments are fully funded.  This would include new medications, new surgeries and improved methods of care for Parkinson’s Disease.

    The book ends with a prescription for action listing 25 steps each of us can and should take to reduce the worldwide toll of this disease. The list includes banning paraquat and other harmful pesticides, eating like the Greeks, exercising, advocating for resources and policy changes, and providing reasonable pricing for PD medications.

    The book is well written and includes many case studies and research references to support their plan for ending or at least slowing down the increasing number of Parkinson’s Disease diagnoses.  It also lays out how to care for those of us that have already been diagnosed including supporting clinical trials that slow or reverse the progression of PD.

    So, while you are home fighting off the COVID-19 pandemic, you might want to grab a copy of Ending Parkinson’s and read about the other pandemic we are fighting as PwP’s.  You can find more information about the book at www.endingPD.org.

    I am still working my way through the PD School 2020 lessons and will provide an update in my next post. In the meantime, stay safe and stay healthy!

  • PD School 2020 – Update

    This will be a short blog post regarding the PD School being conducted by Dr Laurie Mischley which I wrote about in the last post. A few days ago I received the following message from Dr Mischely:

    Hi Tom,
    Yours was one of many requests I’ve received the past few days to make class #1 free. 
    Done. It is now free.  
    Thanks for helping spread the word!  
    Laurie
     
    If you have or have not watched the first class, you now have an opportunity to not only watch it but forward that class to family members, friends, care givers and any other person you think could benefit from a good discussion about what it means to be diagnosed with PD. 
     
    As I mentioned in the last post, this lesson should be offered to all newly diagnosed Parkinson’s patients- it answers so many of the questions we have at that point but didn’t know enough to ask during that first meeting with the neurologist.  The two links below take you to the overview lesson (was already free) and the orientation lesson which is now free.
     
     
     
    I have completed lesson two “Dopamine Repletion” and lesson three “How Do We Know What We Know”.  Both were excellent and I highly recommend them both.  Here are a few of the highlights:
     
    Lesson two – Dopamine Repletion – is an excellent overview on the drugs available, along with when is the best time to take them and avoid the protein from meals blocking the transfer of dopamine to the brain.
     
    She utilizes the results of the ongoing CAM Study and other published research to support taking your levadopa/carbidopa with water  mixed with vitamin C to provide additional stomach acid to speed up the breakdown of the pills.
     
    In addition, she discusses the use of  Fish Oil and Citicoline (both supplements) to reduce dyskinesia by improving the uptake of dopamine so you can reduce your overall dose.
     
    At the end there is a brief discussion of Mucuna, a plant form of levadopa followed  by a ‘guest lecturer’ who discusses the pluses and minuses of using Mucuna.
     
    Lesson three – How Do We Know What We Know – discusses PD research from all directions.  She was worried this would be the lesson no one watched,  but it is another must see as she tackles traditional research, the placebo effect and more.  Rather than try to recapitulate it all here I am going to just pull a few points from her summary at the end of the lesson:
    -Physicians, patients, and researchers all describe/ define PD differently.
    -Everyone says they want medicines that slow PD progression, but they don’t have a scale to measure progression.
    -By time a patient is diagnosed, ability to significantly impact course may be compromised.
    -We don’t know who is going to get PD (screening tests), we don’t know who is at greatest risk of progression, we don’t have a tool to measure progression, and we can’t agree on a definition.
    -A shocking amount of researcher time goes to keeping one’s job. If you’re not bringing in grant money, you don’t get paid, so instead of just doing science, we spend our time courting the system. Novel ideas and  innovation must swim against a significant current. Everyone wants so
    As she wrapped up this lesson, she said she favors a ‘friendly competition’ among PD practitioners.  If she is doing something right, doesn’t your neurologist need to know and if they are doing something right, she wants to know that too. 
     
    Sounds like a good idea to me.
     
    “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius
     
     

IT IS WHAT IT IS!

Catching Up

We have had a busy late summer and fall and, unfortunately, I have not been a faithful blog poster.  But now the holiday season is coming up, so I’m sure I can keep up with timely blog posts 🙂

To bring you up to date, in August, my brother in law Joe in Michigan failed the eye exam for his driver’s license renewal.  It was determined that he had severe cataracts in both eyes and shouldn’t have been driving at all!  So off we went to Michigan to get him back and forth to doctors appointments and two separate surgeries.  During the break between the first eye surgery and the second, we made it out to Colorado to visit family and friends, a trip we originally had scheduled in August to coincide with grandson Charlie’s 16th birthday.  We then went to Grand Rapids for the Rallying to the Challenge meeting (see my last post for details) before heading home.

In October, we journeyed to Asheville, NC and met up with the Marcia and Erwin whom we knew from Kripalu and her stepsister and husband, June and Phil.  We had a great time touring the Biltmore House (America’s largest single family residence) and the River Art’s District and catching up since last March when we met up in Florida. Marcia and Erwin and another couple from Kripalu held an inaugural 5K race/walk in the Poconos in June and raised $26K for the Michael J Fox Foundation!

A week or so later we were off to San Diego to visit Ryan, Sarah and Julian.  We got to see Julian play football, attended one of Sarah’s yoga classes, enjoyed several fine wines and meals and celebrated Ryan’s 40th birthday.  The weather was perfect and we got in a lot of walking and caught some great sunsets over the ocean.

When we returned, I had my appointment with my Movement Disorder Specialist who was pleased with how things were going and recommended no changes to my medication regimen, in fact, he was willing to schedule the next appointment for a year away, but we decided we should continue the every 6 month’s cycle for now.

We made a short trip last weekend to Jackson, MS to watch grandson Garrett play soccer in his college league semi-final soccer tournament, held at Milsaps College.  We were rained out the first night and the next day the team lost in the last 2 minutes of a well played game. It was our first (and last) time to see him play this year. 

In our spare time, we have continued to build up the Tennessee Parkinson’s Disease Resources website which is now operational and we have printed cards with the website address which we are sending to support groups in Tennessee.  Our hope is patients will take an extra card or two and give it to both their primary care Doctor and their neurologist so they are aware that the site exists.   If it all works as we would like, the Doctor can order additional cards to have on hand for patients.  The goal is to let newly diagnosed PwP know they are not alone and resources are available.

So that more or less brings us up to date and I promise I will try to meet my goal of at least two posts a month, even with the holiday’s coming up.  In the meantime, don’t forget to sign up for Fox Trial Finder and Fox Insight, we have over 50,000 profiles in Trial Finder and over 3000 in Insight but we need more!!  Click on the button at the top of the page or the Fox Insight icon to sign up.  Thanks!

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius

Other Posts

IT IS WHAT IT IS!

Catching Up

We have had a busy late summer and fall and, unfortunately, I have not been a faithful blog poster.  But now the holiday season is coming up, so I’m sure I can keep up with timely blog posts 🙂

To bring you up to date, in August, my brother in law Joe in Michigan failed the eye exam for his driver’s license renewal.  It was determined that he had severe cataracts in both eyes and shouldn’t have been driving at all!  So off we went to Michigan to get him back and forth to doctors appointments and two separate surgeries.  During the break between the first eye surgery and the second, we made it out to Colorado to visit family and friends, a trip we originally had scheduled in August to coincide with grandson Charlie’s 16th birthday.  We then went to Grand Rapids for the Rallying to the Challenge meeting (see my last post for details) before heading home.

In October, we journeyed to Asheville, NC and met up with the Marcia and Erwin whom we knew from Kripalu and her stepsister and husband, June and Phil.  We had a great time touring the Biltmore House (America’s largest single family residence) and the River Art’s District and catching up since last March when we met up in Florida. Marcia and Erwin and another couple from Kripalu held an inaugural 5K race/walk in the Poconos in June and raised $26K for the Michael J Fox Foundation!

A week or so later we were off to San Diego to visit Ryan, Sarah and Julian.  We got to see Julian play football, attended one of Sarah’s yoga classes, enjoyed several fine wines and meals and celebrated Ryan’s 40th birthday.  The weather was perfect and we got in a lot of walking and caught some great sunsets over the ocean.

When we returned, I had my appointment with my Movement Disorder Specialist who was pleased with how things were going and recommended no changes to my medication regimen, in fact, he was willing to schedule the next appointment for a year away, but we decided we should continue the every 6 month’s cycle for now.

We made a short trip last weekend to Jackson, MS to watch grandson Garrett play soccer in his college league semi-final soccer tournament, held at Milsaps College.  We were rained out the first night and the next day the team lost in the last 2 minutes of a well played game. It was our first (and last) time to see him play this year. 

In our spare time, we have continued to build up the Tennessee Parkinson’s Disease Resources website which is now operational and we have printed cards with the website address which we are sending to support groups in Tennessee.  Our hope is patients will take an extra card or two and give it to both their primary care Doctor and their neurologist so they are aware that the site exists.   If it all works as we would like, the Doctor can order additional cards to have on hand for patients.  The goal is to let newly diagnosed PwP know they are not alone and resources are available.

So that more or less brings us up to date and I promise I will try to meet my goal of at least two posts a month, even with the holiday’s coming up.  In the meantime, don’t forget to sign up for Fox Trial Finder and Fox Insight, we have over 50,000 profiles in Trial Finder and over 3000 in Insight but we need more!!  Click on the button at the top of the page or the Fox Insight icon to sign up.  Thanks!

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius

Other Posts

Catching Up

Written by

Tom Eckhardt

in

We have had a busy late summer and fall and, unfortunately, I have not been a faithful blog poster.  But now the holiday season is coming up, so I’m sure I can keep up with timely blog posts 🙂

To bring you up to date, in August, my brother in law Joe in Michigan failed the eye exam for his driver’s license renewal.  It was determined that he had severe cataracts in both eyes and shouldn’t have been driving at all!  So off we went to Michigan to get him back and forth to doctors appointments and two separate surgeries.  During the break between the first eye surgery and the second, we made it out to Colorado to visit family and friends, a trip we originally had scheduled in August to coincide with grandson Charlie’s 16th birthday.  We then went to Grand Rapids for the Rallying to the Challenge meeting (see my last post for details) before heading home.

In October, we journeyed to Asheville, NC and met up with the Marcia and Erwin whom we knew from Kripalu and her stepsister and husband, June and Phil.  We had a great time touring the Biltmore House (America’s largest single family residence) and the River Art’s District and catching up since last March when we met up in Florida. Marcia and Erwin and another couple from Kripalu held an inaugural 5K race/walk in the Poconos in June and raised $26K for the Michael J Fox Foundation!

A week or so later we were off to San Diego to visit Ryan, Sarah and Julian.  We got to see Julian play football, attended one of Sarah’s yoga classes, enjoyed several fine wines and meals and celebrated Ryan’s 40th birthday.  The weather was perfect and we got in a lot of walking and caught some great sunsets over the ocean.

When we returned, I had my appointment with my Movement Disorder Specialist who was pleased with how things were going and recommended no changes to my medication regimen, in fact, he was willing to schedule the next appointment for a year away, but we decided we should continue the every 6 month’s cycle for now.

We made a short trip last weekend to Jackson, MS to watch grandson Garrett play soccer in his college league semi-final soccer tournament, held at Milsaps College.  We were rained out the first night and the next day the team lost in the last 2 minutes of a well played game. It was our first (and last) time to see him play this year. 

In our spare time, we have continued to build up the Tennessee Parkinson’s Disease Resources website which is now operational and we have printed cards with the website address which we are sending to support groups in Tennessee.  Our hope is patients will take an extra card or two and give it to both their primary care Doctor and their neurologist so they are aware that the site exists.   If it all works as we would like, the Doctor can order additional cards to have on hand for patients.  The goal is to let newly diagnosed PwP know they are not alone and resources are available.

So that more or less brings us up to date and I promise I will try to meet my goal of at least two posts a month, even with the holiday’s coming up.  In the meantime, don’t forget to sign up for Fox Trial Finder and Fox Insight, we have over 50,000 profiles in Trial Finder and over 3000 in Insight but we need more!!  Click on the button at the top of the page or the Fox Insight icon to sign up.  Thanks!

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius

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