As all of you know, the current medical model of Parkinson’s does not include being cured. In fact, it does not include slowing, halting, or reversing the disease. It only includes mitigation of symptoms for a window of time. If you want to be cured of Parkinson’s, you have to realize that you are your own cure.
Yes, the Parkinson’s Recipe for Recovery® is your road map of a cure, but you have to do the Recipe, the soul, mind, and body healing — this means that you are your own cure!
Being responsible for being your own cure is daunting for some people. We have become reliant upon others to “cure” us from our maladies, so when the others say, “There is no cure for your Parkinson’s,” what other choice do we have? We either accept what the others say that we cannot be cured, or we say, “I refuse to accept the status quo. I have the power to heal myself…and I will!” This makes you your own cure.
In the beginning of my journey after I had researched Parkinson’s, I knew a handful of important things:
1. When my mother died two-and-one-half years prior to me getting the disease, she was mostly in a wheel-chair, had a nurse-caregiver as well as my dad as a caregiver, and she had lost her mind to the medications three years prior to losing her life.
2. The medications had taken my mother’s mind, and they had not prevented her from reaching wheel-chair-bound physical disability.
3. The liver was deeply malfunctioning as well as the kidneys.
With all of this in mind, I knew medications were not for me. That was my choice. My fear was not Parkinson’s. My fear was not creating my own path. My fear was the known path…my mother’s treatment path, which is the current medical standard treatment path for Parkinson’s.
So, I sat down with Sally. I outlined my treatment plan (the Recipe) and told her I knew I would fully recover. However, I did add this to the conversation: “Even though I have complete faith and I know in my heart I will recover some day, if I am wrong and the doctors are right, then at the end of the path, I think I will be completely paralyzed.” Sally’s response was instant, and it was simple: “It is just a body. You won’t lose your mind like your mother, so I won’t lose you. If you can tolerate what the disease dishes out to you, I am all in.” And off the cliff we went into the abyss. That was nearly 12 years ago.
I share this with you so that what I am going to tell you next will make sense. With Plan A only, I was forced to see the silver lining in every cloud. That was not my normal way of being pre-Parkinson’s. However, the normal-way-of-being-Howard is the guy who got Parkinson’s, so thinking and acting outside of what had been my norm seemed like a good idea. I recommend it to all of you.
Make it a game for yourself. I will provide you some examples of what I mean, and you all are bright enough to run, or shuffle, with it from there:
1. Pain. If I had pain in an area where I previously felt nothing, instead of being angry about the pain or fearful of what it might mean (i.e. Parkinson’s getting worse — isn’t that what every change in your symptoms you do not like ultimately adds up to in your mind?), I would say something like, “This is great! Pain means that the electricity is flowing from my brain to the part of my body that hurts or I would not be experiencing pain. This must mean all that stuff in my brain that the doctors say is dead is not really dead.”
2. Stiffness, fatigue, and slowness. “My body is using my available energy to open blockages, so it is making me more stiff and fatigued and slower than usual. It will improve when the blockages are opened. This is great!”
3. Increased tremors. “Wonderful. Tremors are created when electricity hits blockages or escapes from the protective neural covering. Increased tremors means I am creating more energy in my low-energy brain, so I shake more. This is great!”
I think you get the point. Everything was “great!” Why? First, because that is exactly what was happening in my body. Second, because even if it was not exactly what was happening in my body, I had Plan A only, no Plan B, so fear of Parkinson’s was a luxury I could not afford. I forced myself to find something “great!” about whatever was going on.
In the end, I must have been correct…apparently, there was nothing to be afraid of and everything that was happening was “great!” I was my own cure.
I know, some of you are thinking, “Howard may not have taken medications, but he sounds like he still lost his mind.” True. In a way, I did lose my mind…I had to follow the quote I have posted in the past:
“Sometimes you have to lose your mind before you come to your senses.”
-Socrates, Dan Millman’s Way of the Peaceful Warrior-
Here is the mind I had to lose. I had to lose my Adrenaline-mode mind. I had to lose my I-need-to-do-everything-perfectly mind. I had to lose my I-need-to-be-in-control mind. I had to lose my you-are-not-worth-it mind. I had to lose my it-is-not-okay-to-like-yourself-or-love-yourself mind. When I lost that mind, then, and only then, did I completely come to my senses. The whole world changed. Actually, all that had changed was me. I started viewing the world from my compassionate heart, and there I have stayed.
Be your own cure!
Each and every one of you has it within you to cure yourself. Challenge yourself or make it a game — focus on positive thoughts, focus on silver linings. If you do this, you will begin to feel it. Once you feel it, you will realize how good it feels. Once you realize how good it feels, you will want to do it again and again and again.
And then, one day, you will awaken and say, “Wow, I must have been correct…apparently, there was nothing to be afraid of and everything that was happening was “great!” I was my own cure.” That will be a day you will remember forever.
The Parkinson’s Cure. Be it!
You are worth it!!!
All my best,
Howard
Thanks Howard , 9 months 2 days doing the recipe now . Yes I definitely have a different attitude since having an electrical problem and doing the recovery. I let things go a lot more and I will never ever take for granted walking normally again. I’m experiencing a lot changes at this stage but going with the flow . Yes my left arm shakes especially when talking, so I don’t talk as much , probably a good thing lol 😆 . Nothing to lose but a lot to gain . Have a lovely weekend everyone , summer is on our doorstep here in Australia yahoo. I love warm weather. Love to all , Rick 😀😀😀
Rick,
You made me laugh out loud about talking less! I love that your sense of humor is intact and helping you with your cure.
All best wishes,
Linda
Hi Rick,thank you so much for mentioning that your arm shakes when you talk. I am the same and I was convinced that it was my adrenaline mind,giving me a belief that was untrue. I do find though, when I keep saying “ I talk with ease in a steady body” helps. (As my legs join in too) lol
Like Linda, I enjoy your posts as you are always so upbeat. 😁
Thank you Karen and Linda for your kind comments. Yes it hard when the arm shakes when talking especially when people want to keep talking, most times I carry a small back pack over my left shoulder with my left arm holding it, which helps steady it 😀😀😅😅
So check your mind, the habitual mind that puts you in an uncomfortable space.
Ha, my mind says: “what-if-it-doesn’t-happen” this mind puts me in doubt. One foot in the cure and one foot: what if……
One foot in the past (knowing I have P) and one foot in the future (its got to happen somewhere, don’t know how or when).
I balance between disbelieve and believe.
Love to you all 🌺🌺🌺
This is great news. I have plenty of problems to practice my silver lining thinking on!!
My cup runneth over…
Greetings to all from Chicago where the leaves are just about to start bursting with the colors and stories of autumn. This past week found us walking along the shore of Lake Michigan and just for a few uncountable moments I was symptom free. Cured. Didn’t last long. But it was there. Howard called it a chip of gold. I put it in my pocket. Kept it close. Here’s to all of us having those golden moments!
Roger, I have experienced this as well, 10 seconds here, 5 minutes there. At least 3 different times over the last 1.5 years. It truly confirms that your substantia nigra is not dead after all. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks to Chris M for his encouraging words last week. I think it’s beginning to sink in that endlessly analyzing and evaluating personal worth is a waste of time and what we (I) really need to do is to act out of character and suck up the joy.
It’s like Dorothy Parker’s punchline in her tongue-in-cheek suicide poem, Résumé: ‘You might as well live’.
Dammit, I might as well recover.
Hi Val, witty as ever. You must have some Irish blood 😊
Hi Karen
Well, I’ve done the Living DNA test and I am 97.1% of Great Britain and Ireland ancestry so maybe the .1 is my Irish heritage. I love the Irish and their vernacular: phrases like things being ‘a rake of shit and shite’. Inspired! Pre-Parkinson’s, when I still had a personality, I used to be known for my excoriating wit but I’ve dumbed down a lot since then. Pitiful, really. I hope you and your friend Cynthia are OK in this, our comedy of tremors.
God bless yus.
Val
Val I’m sorry but I disagree with you as your personality is so apparent in your posts and is far from lost. The fact that so many Warriors comment on their enjoyment of your posts support my opinion AND your fabulous dry wit is never far away. I do feel sad when you write depreciating words about yourself and your worthiness of your recovery. We have all flucked up along the way in this glorious game of life. We have hurt others and been hurt. We can’t change the past but we do have the ability to learn from it and move on and forgive ourselves along the way. This site is all the richer for Warriors like you who share their truth and vulnerability with humour. Think of all the people you can help when you reach your recovery WHICH YOU DESERVE. We have all done our penance in having this disease (if you believe in all that)
I wish you could know your worth yourself….. btw I do use the word shite quite a bit lol 😜
Thanks, Karen. Your kind and insightful feedback is much appreciated. Rick does the optimism; you do the compassion. But we all buttress each other up. See you at Destination Cure!
Hurting….yes, I trained more, walked more and as you tell, Howard, it started to hurt at my back, my legs…the tremor improving… great view of you, dear Howard, thanks!! But an advantage: the head feels lighter and the feet are less blue, yeahhh!
Hi all , just wanted to say to all our American warriors, that we are with you today In spirit, on this 20th anniversary of 9/11. I am sure many of you were affected in some form or another by a senseless act of evil. Some tears never dry. God bless you all.
Much love 💕
Karen
Thanks Karen in Ireland!
This is truly a great insight into the mind side of the recipe. I am truly “grate”-ful to be winning this game alongside so many beautiful souls. Thank you Howard for building this community and for helping me to free myself from the PD symptoms and fear. It is so nice to have peace of mind. 🙂
Love to all on this day of reflection.
Bob
A very appropriate write up on “Being your own cure” and recovery, which has opened my eyes! I shall think positive and focus on the silver lining whenever I have stiffness and slowness in my movements and shall chant “This is great”.
Thank you Howard.