There is a big concern with Parkinson’s about dopamine…is it there? is it depleted? is is flowing? This concern about dopamine brings many people to a place of fear and doubt. When doing the Parkinson’s Recipe for Recovery®, if symptoms seems a bit worse, fear creeps in and brings its friend, doubt…is this really working for me? is my dopamine really there? Simple answers: Yes. Yes.
To assist all of you with the simple “Yes, Yes,” answers, I am going to re-post a post I did two years ago today about a study in Denmark that says that the brain cells are not dead and the dopamine is not depleted. Here is it is:
“As you know, it is the position of Western Medicine that the substantia nigra, basal ganglia, in the brain are dying or already dead leading to a depletion of dopamine in the brain. They say they do not know the cause of this nor can they cure it, so they seek to treat symptoms of Parkinson’s with dopamine enhancement and dopamine replacement medications. A recent study entitled, “Myth about Parkinson’s disease debunked,” found that “Scanning the brain of a patient suffering from Parkinson’s disease reveals that in spite of dopamine cell death, there are no signs of a lack of dopamine — even at a comparatively late stage in the process.”
For those of you who have been following this blog for a while or have spent any time with the Parkinson’s Recipe for Recovery®, you know I always have taken the position that the dopamine is not depleted, only blocked, and that the dopamine faucet is turned down low.
In the introduction to the Recipe, I say:
“I do not believe that the dopamine is depleted or gone. I believe that the body has been working in adrenaline mode and dopamine has taken a back seat, essentially, it has mostly closed the faucet and is not flowing at full capacity. It is why I believe the medications cause Dyskinesia – the body is being given artificial dopamine replacements that are not able to fully assimilate into the system and thus cause uncontrollable movement as opposed to controlled movement.
By listening to my body, talking to my body and examining my electrical impulses, I was able to re-open the dopamine faucet. The result was full recovery with 100% pre-Parkinson’s controlled movement.”
In the Affirmations/Meditations/Prayers section of the Recipe, I say:
“The medical profession says that with Parkinson’s, dopamine is depleted in one’s brain and the basal ganglia controlling movement are 60-80% dead. Having lived in a Parkinson’s body and thought with a Parkinson’s mind, and held my firm faith with a Parkinson’s soul, I can tell you they are incorrect. It is why after nearly 200 years, they are no closer to a cure than when they started. Parkinson’s is an electrical problem and they are trying to fix it with chemicals. The dopamine is there, but the flow is interrupted. Adrenaline has taken over, which ultimately leads to dopamine taking a back seat. Just like anything else, after years of operating in adrenaline mode, the dopamine just turns off the faucet.”
Well, last week, our friend Laura in Canada sent me the article I reference above. Thank you Laura for sharing this wonderful news. It is from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.
In the section of the article entitled “A thorn in the side” the author points out that not only was there no lack of dopamine, but that the theory of “lack of dopamine” has not been established:
“A thorn in the side
Scanning the brain of a patient suffering from Parkinson’s disease reveals that in spite of dopamine cell death, there are no signs of a lack of dopamine — even at a comparatively late stage in the process.
‘The inability to establish a lack of dopamine until advanced cases of Parkinson’s disease has been a thorn in the side of researchers for many years. On the one hand, the symptoms indicate that the stop signal is over-activated, and patients are treated accordingly with a fair degree of success. On the other hand, data prove that they are not lacking dopamine,’ says Postdoc Jakob Kisbye Dreyer.”
Click here to read the entire article yourself.
A few things I would like to mention at this point.
1. This report comes as no surprise as I, and so many of you, are living proof that our dopamine is not depleted. However, it is very exciting that there is now is scientific proof that we have been correct all along.
2. If you are taking medications, please keep taking them. If you stop taking them cold turkey, nothing good will come from that. Click here to read more.
3. To enhance the hope and faith of people with Parkinson’s around the world, I ask that you please send a link to this blog post to everybody who you know and encourage them to send it to others. It is important that people who are filled with fear that their dopamine is depleted and their prognosis is hopeless see this blog post and article. The reason I ask that you send a link to this post instead of just the article is that if people read the article only, it gives them hope but it does not tell them what they can do to recover. If you provide a link to this post, then they will come to the blog and site, see the Recipe, see this wonderful community made up of all of you, and they will realize that a road map to their recovery and other travelers on the path to recovery already exist and have existed for years. Imagine how that will enhance their faith and hope.
“I have the power to heal myself.” And I did.
“You have the power to heal yourself.” Marie did. Pratima did. Betty did. And you are.
“Together we have the power to heal the world.” And we are. Please send a link to this post to everybody who you know and encourage them to read the post and send it to others.”
Since this was originally posted two years ago today, I need to add to the above people cured, “Helen did.” That’s right, five of us fully recovered 100% cured of Parkinson’s doing the Recipe. If we did not have our dopamine, five would be zero. Our recoveries are completed supported by this study.
Furthermore, it now is two years after this study was published, and nothing has surfaced to challenge its accuracy. When fear brings it’s friend doubt to the party, have your bouncers, Faith and Hope, show fear and doubt to the exit. They need not ruin your full recovery party.
You are worth it!!!
All my best,
Howard
Howard, can’t thank you enough for this post. I’m just sitting here crying: maybe Robin Williams would still be alive if he had this info’, along with countless others who lived a miserable life and then died, hopeless.
Yes, we need to get the word out. Not doing so is like not telling a dying, thirsty man where the water is!
Nothing but hope!!
Love you, Howard.
You are an extraordinary human being.
Sooooooooo very beautiful and powerful.
Tyty
Hi Howard, I love your humour at the end. My bouncers are demanding overtime 🙂
Big Love to you and all warriors.
Karen xx
I just love you Karen ! Have a great week !
Debbie
🙂 🙂 🙂
Debbie, I just love you too. 🙂 xx
Howard you have changed the lives of many, including mine. Without your success story and the others that followed, we wouldn’t have the beacon of hope that keeps us going. Every time fear and doubt appear I remind myself of the reality that you share with us and, as if by magic, faith and hope reappear. Heartfelt thanks to you.
please, keep on with this wonderful blog, it is a torchlight for all of us
thanks, eneas
Hi,
I have read many of Howard’s blogs over the last couple years. I was diagnosed 5 years ago. Though I’ve never fully committed to Howard’s recipe, I am devoted to daily Qi Gong practice which has helped me go 5 years with no meds. However, my PD symptoms got so bad about 4 months ago that I finally had to give in and start taking Sinemet.
I got desperately needed relief from most of the symptoms by taking the Sinemet, but my mind is in constant pursuit of a way to get off the meds and get back to being hopeful that I can have a good quality of life without the medication. Thanks to a good friend, I have come back to this blog looking for inspiration. How can I get off the meds when my symptoms are so debilitating without them?
Hi Stevie,
Welcome back to the blog.
I was devoted to 10 years of daily Qigong practice before getting Parkinson’s, so I knew I needed something stronger. That is why the Recipe has Medical Qigong, plus other physical things, plus mental and spiritual recovery parts. It is a soul, mind, and body recovery. You mentioned that you never fully committed to the Recipe. And, you ask how you can get off of meds. Please read this post, which is my position on doing the Recipe and on medications, https://www.fightingparkinsonsdrugfree.com/2013/09/17/fighting-parkinson%E2%80%99s-and-a-bit-more-on-medications/.
Love and blessings,
Howard
thnx for this great post, howard! and to everyone for their inspiring comments every week. im finding typing v difficult — my hands n arms not working too well– so i havent commented in ages. but im so v grateful that so many of u share your souls with me–and us……. and karen….n debbie…i just love you too!!!xxxx
linda
Hey Linda, great to see you back. Sorry you struggling with hands and arms friend. We all have our sh*t to shovel at the moment, but you’re in good company friend. Don’t give up. You would never turn back half way through a road trip just cos you can’t see the destination. That light inside each of us, that engine will drive our bodies to our destination Recoveryville, and what a roar of warrior cheers and tears of joy when we get there. Big love to you too Linda.xx
thnx karen, how r u ? do u hve a new carer? do u get outside at all?
big Lovexxx
lindA
Hi Linda no new carer yet. Having to do everything taking its tole. Only go out back with my son at weekends when he helps me. Mobility too challenging for going anywhere but it will happen. Just trying to make peace with where I’m at. 🙂 Howard is a saint with me! Lol. xx
Dear Howard, thank you for your generosity sharing
Hi Judy, Paul, Karen, Waseema, and Eneas,
I appreciate your kind words. Thank you for sharing your stories and message of hope. I am grateful.
Love and blessings,
Howard
It’s wonderful to know dopamine is not depleted. Big hope to all of us. Howard you are a blessing to all of us. Thank you is a small word. Gratitude and love.
Though I have not been regular with recipe my faith on you and your recipe is still. There are days when I religiously do my best. But Something inside me stops me. I feel it’s “intentional interruption”. My parkinson mind stopping me in between. My mom performs Jin shin jyutsu regularly for me.
I have reduced the medicine dose to half tablet twice in a day. I am also on homeopathic treatment.
Love to you and all warriors
Smita 🙂
Smita,
I’m very interested in homeopathy. How is it working for you?
And Howard, thank you for this great new reminder that when it comes to dopamine and western medicine, “it aint necessarily so”. I am infinitely grateful for this blog and you.
Hi All, in support of this blog, I just remembered something to support this report. Back in 2012 after I was diagnosed, I was doing everything to understand my body and what was going on. I asked the nurse in my doctors surgery if she could contact their laboratories where they got bloods checked etc and ask was there any test that could be done for dopamine? I had declined that X-Ray of the brain where they put dye into your brain to see for damage etc. I felt I was trying to help my brain not add more toxicity . Anyway, I digress. The labs said I would need to collect EVERY urine sample over a 24 hour period ( which was great fun 🙂 ) They sent me out a special container to collect it in. When the results came back, I was told that my dopamine reading was in the ” average” range for a normal person! I remember thinking so why the hell have I Parkinson’s if there is dopamine in my system? It’s only through Howard that I learned that it’s there, just the faucet is low. So I guess, I’m a thorn in the side too 🙂 lol, but we all know that anyway lol. Strange how stuff comes back to you, it’s just been so long since I’ve done any Parkinson’s research. Just head in the sand, and ass up doing protocol when I can. 🙂 xx
hello Karen, hello to all my fellow warriors, thanks Howard ……. happened to me something like Karen.
when I was diagnosed I became clinical trials including an MRI. the neurologist was surprised to see my MRI results of my dopamine was complete, there was no cell death