A couple of people have emailed me recently and stated that they have read my blog, are doing what I did, and that they are not experiencing the same results. Upon further inquiry, I learned that one had been “doing what I did” for three weeks and the other for five weeks. As it turned out, both also were taking herbal supplemental formulas, something I did not do. I am not passing judgment, but this is an important point for what I want to say today.
Here is my Parkinson’s daily journal entry from one year ago today (approximately four weeks into “doing what I did”):
“10/19/09. 4:00 Monday, oh, boy! It is cold today, 48 degrees. Yesterday evening, my kidneys and lower back began to hurt. I think it was the lentils doing a cleansing. As I was reading about lentils and kidneys, many articles referred to lentils as being used to relieve constipation. Of course, I am having the pleasure of constipation today…go figure. This is very discouraging…Even though each day I feel worse, I refuse to accept that I cannot get better. Maintaining where I am today is not the future I envision…we will see.”
So, if you have been “doing what I did” for three to five weeks and you are feeling worse, you are experiencing that same results as me. Please do not get discouraged.
Doing what I did does not include taking herbal supplements or formulas or Ayurvedic formulas designed to relieve Parkinson’s symptoms. As I said earlier, I am not passing judgment on your decision if you are taking these. I will, though, explain why I did not.
I decided to listen to my body to learn what I needed to do to get better. I had ignored my body’s earlier warning signs, and Parkinson’s was an unpleasant wake up call that I needed to change my life. Since Parkinson’s was designated as incurable, I decided that I would not try what had been tried in the past because it did not cure the disease and I wanted to be cured.
I felt that the Parkinson’s medications masked the symptoms and had terrible side effects. By masking the symptoms, I would not have been able to understand how the disease impacted my body from head to toe. Also, if I masked the symptoms, maybe I would have had the ability to do something that my body clearly did not want me to do, such as going up the stairs without holding on; maybe I would have fallen and created an even bigger problem for myself by ignoring my body’s warning signs.
Parkinson’s was a big enough problem for me, so I decided to address the problem, explore the symptoms instead of hiding or ignoring them, and try to figure out a way that they made sense so I could get rid of them. After extensive research of the supplements, herbal formulas and Ayurvedic formulas, including dopamine replacement formulas, I found that most of what was being presented as a “safe” way to ease Parkinson’s symptoms actually had the same or very similar side effects to the Parkinson’s medications. Plus, I was not 100% certain that my body would know how to assimilate these formulas into my body.
My goal here is not to stand on a soapbox and pound my chest. My goal is simple — I am saddened if you have Parkinson’s because I had it and it is a terrible way to have to live. I just want to let you know that my battle was a daily battle that lasted nine months and rarely had a “feeling better” moment. This causes us to grasp for anything that might help, and I would like to caution you to carefully research what you are grasping for as you may be surprised at what you find.
Here’s a thought. Instead of grasping for something outside yourself, what if you grasp for something inside yourself and repeat, “I have the power to heal myself.” Reach deep inside, do a gut check, and repeat, “I have the power to heal myself.” You may surprise yourself that you actually do have the power to heal yourself. That realization is very uplifting. You deserve to treat yourself to it. Oh, yeah — do not give up faith. Do not give up on yourself.
As Dr. Sha would say: “I have the power to heal myself. You have the power to heal yourself. Together we have the power to heal the world.”
All my best,
Howard
Howard, I’m now reading your writings of Oct 2010 (working my way up the blog) and my comments on this: Although I have not been diagnosed with Parkinson (yet), I noticed some Parkinson symptoms in myself. One of these was that I had very stiff ankles in the morning. I started to drink fish oil capsules, since they are good for the brain as well as clearing inflammation. This seems to have helped, either by doing some good for my brain or by clearing inflammation in my ankles. Now I know you sort of blame Mercury found in Tuna sandwiches you use to eat in your youth, so you might differ from me on using anything fishy.
I agree with you that dopamine replacing remedies or remedies masking Parkinson’s symptoms are not the way to go, but just as Oat’s in the morning supply your brain with glucose energy, maybe some other kinds of food supplements ie. fish oil, might be good for the brain as well.