As I wrote in my last post, conventional wisdom says that we cannot recover from Parkinson’s…only degenerate, only get worse, never get better. I have explained in the past that on any day where I felt no worse than the day before, I viewed this as progress. Progress is what we are told is impossible. I know that many of you are making progress — some of you I am coaching, and some of you post comments about your progress, and some of you send me emails about your progress. Today, I am going to post a sampling of people’s progress in recovering from Parkinson’s (the information is from public comments on my site and from emails where I was told I could post the contents). I find these inspiring, and I am certain you will find them inspiring as well.
Marie’s comment posted on June 6, 2011:
“Hello, Howard!
I have missed my regular readings of your posts, which are so inspiring. Just read this one, and the previous post about preparing the soil,
and will get up from this computer and do my Qigong now!
The Recipe for Recovery is really working for me on so many levels. Given how totally preoccupied I was with Parkinson’s…with what it would do to me in the future….it is like a miracle to me to report that there are times when I forget all about it in the NOW. Doing the work is all.
As always, I thank you so deeply for the tremendous help your experience and wisdom has been in opening the door to healing and keeping that door open.
And when I say “healing” I am speaking of a comprehensive change that goes beyond the symptoms of the disease, and into the soil of my being.”
Ainsley’s comment posted June 8, 2011:
“Howard
Hi from New Zealand.
I came across your website by chance three weeks ago.
I have been following your recipe for sucess each day and have to say I have made
the most progress in my recovery in these three weeks since I was diagnosed over
six years ago.
You are an inspiration and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for you sharing your recovery story and ongoing support with all of us out there.
Warmest regards
Ainsley”
From John’s email to me:
I’m very grateful for your service to the Parkinson’s community and especially for those willing to challenge limiting beliefs. I’ve read all your blog posts and placed all highlights to my kindle…ever close to my side for guidance and inspiration.
As well, I’ve included Dr. Sha’s Soul, Mind, and Body Healing book. I found very supportive your mentioning that the Liver cleanse qigong was very hard. This allowed me to acknowledge my resistance and to challenge myself to forge forward. My wife also supports my challenge and will participate in the Tui nah technique as I intend to include all of your protocol. I’ve eliminated all pd medications (minimal as it was) as well as the otc benedryl that I had used for sleep. Fear crept in this morning as I awoke uncomfortable in my skin…I turned the fear over for Divine consumption, and did my qigong and meditated to a blissful comfort. I’m grateful for a non-demanding lifestyle, and most grateful for your trail-blazing–despite your incurring the wrath of those caught in the allopathic disease model.
Most grateful,
John”
From a person who wishes to remain anonymous and who has reduced from 5 medications down to 1 with her neurologist’s knowledge, and who asked me the following:
“Now the only thing I take is Sinemet 25/100 2x a day and I break one pill in half in the evening. I also take comtan 1 200 mg tablet in the AM. Here is my question. When should I do my exercises? Before I take my meds, in the morning before the effect of the sinemet takes hold (At this time I’m a little unbalanced and slow moving) or after the drugs kick in? I try not to take my meds before 10am . I use to take them at 8 am but have increased the amount of time gradually. The reason is like yourself I too believe that PD is an electrical issue and therefore I like to give my brain time to use the natural build-up of dopamine. My last dose is taken at 5 or 6 pm. That’s about 16 or 17 hours without sinemet. So, what do you think?”
I recommended doing the exercises prior to taking the medications. Here was my reasoning: “Part of it is an awareness of stretching the time and having a sense of how you feel, and then not being afraid. Part of it helps build up the mental toughness you will need to get rid of the disease altogether later….You are doing the exercises at the end of a long no-med stretch, and you are allowing your body to naturally work with the exercises, particularly, getting your body’s natural rhythms, natural dopamine, and electricity working without the assistance of taking the meds right before the exercises.”
Here is the person’s response: “If this will help someone else you are welcome to use it on line. Thank you for your feedback. It is very helpful. By the way after feeling quite lousy and even a little bit more than usual I woke up this morning with an increased amount of energy. I could walk and pivot without feeling unbalanced. Don’t know why but will continue doing what I’m doing.”
My response: “The best thing you could have said is, “Don’t know why but will continue doing what I’m doing.” That is the whole point. It is sometimes hard to understand how well we are healing ourselves from the inside, so when something good happens some people overlook it or shrug it off. I love your attitude, which is basically, this is good, so let’s keep it up!
Now, here is the harder part…when Parkinson’s tries to knock you off of your wave…try to maintain the same attitude, basically, “What I was doing was good, and I saw good results, and suddenly it is not so good, oh, it must be Parkinson’s trying to discourage me. Instead of being discouraged, this encourages me more that I am winning the battle because Parkinson’s is now paying more attention.” If you can do that, you can do anything!”
In my blog post 2 days ago, I asked:
“So, if you want to recover, who do you rely on? Do you rely on those who believe that recovery is impossible or do you rely on yourself for your recovery because you believe recovery is possible?”
Here are some excerpts from the stories listed above:
“The Recipe for Recovery is really working for me on so many levels. Given how totally preoccupied I was with Parkinson’s…with what it would do to me in the future….it is like a miracle to me to report that there are times when I forget all about it in the NOW. Doing the work is all.”
“I have been following your recipe for sucess each day and have to say I have made the most progress in my recovery in these three weeks since I was diagnosed over six years ago.”
“I’ve eliminated all pd medications (minimal as it was) as well as the otc benedryl that I had used for sleep. Fear crept in this morning as I awoke uncomfortable in my skin…I turned the fear over for Divine consumption, and did my qigong and meditated to a blissful comfort.”
“By the way after feeling quite lousy and even a little bit more than usual I woke up this morning with an increased amount of energy. I could walk and pivot without feeling unbalanced. Don’t know why but will continue doing what I’m doing.”
So, if you want to recover, who do you rely on? Do you rely on those who believe that recovery is impossible or do you rely on yourself for your recovery because you believe recovery is possible? We all know who these four people are relying on, and their progress is very inspiring!
You can do it too! WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW? How about taking a dose of confidence and self-reliance and heading down your path to recovery. You deserve it! Don’t you agree?
All my best,
Howard
