Category Archives: cure

A Cure for Parkinson’s at the Forefront?

Question:

I have a question regarding the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

A close relative of mine is suffering from what it appears to be a symptom of Parkinson’s.  She is at the initial stages right now. E.G:

– resting tremors
– tremors get slightly worst in mid air (whether or not she’s holding onto something)

She is exercising regularly now which is a definitely a good thing, however, I have noticed that when she does alot of housework or work in general the tremors would get slightly worst…is that a regular symptom of Parkinson’s?

At this point, she is going to be taking the anti-tremor pills prescribed by the doctor which hopefully will reduce or eliminate the tremor for the time being.

She is also not quite receptive to the idea of having to change the hygienic needs (e.g. shampoo, soap etc) to the herbal ones as was suggested in the e-book.

Are there any other suggestions you can provide aside from drinking 8 cups of water a day and more exercise to reduce the tremors?  Acupuncture at this point did not seem to help very much…We haven’t tried massage or Bowen Therapy nor have we tried the Aqua therapy (simply coz we don’t know much about it)

Do you know whether there is a cure for the disease with the invention of a new pill at the forefront?

Any suggestions or feedback would be appreciated.

Response:

You ask whether doing a lot of housework or work in general are regular symptoms of Parkinson’s? It is not the housework in itself or work in particular that fuels the symptoms. The issue turns primarily on the presence or absence of stress. When work – no matter the form – is stressful, symptoms will flare up. The more your relative can acknowledge the stress she is under and find ways to release it, less problematic will be her symptoms.

Is sounds like she has decided to medicate her symptoms. An alternative approach is to acknowledge her body is sending her a strong signal that something different needs to happen. Other symptoms will rear their ugly head if the cause of the current challenge is not addressed.

Exercise will certainly make a huge difference. Also consider doing more disciplined exercise like Tai Chi or perhaps yoga. Yes – body therapies that release stress such as craniosacral therapy and Bowen therapy have the potential to help offer her relief from her symptoms because they help her body release the stress that is trapped at the cellular level. Why not give them a trial run? With medicines you incur side effects (which may well be worth the cost). Body therapies are noninvasive and safe.

The Aquas are recommended by Naturopath Doctor John Coleman who himself is now fully recovered from the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Aquas are a homeopathic approach which helps reprogram the body’s mechanism to signal thirst and distribute water throughout the body which gets disabled as we age. You can discover more information at: http://www.aquas.us.

Will there be a cure for the symptoms? No, there will never be a cure because the conditions that create the symptoms are multi-faceted. Each person’s situation is entirely unique to them. That is why the symptoms vary so widely across individuals. If there were a single cause, then it might be possible to see a “cure” down the road, but there is no single factor that causes the symptoms associated with a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.

Trauma creates havoc with the neurological system. Stress damages neural connections. Toxins blow the neurological system up.

I note that your friend does not seem to be worried about toxins. Toxins affect everyone who is alive today. If we do not take the effects of toxins seriously, we will eventually become ill in one form or another.

Do I have a suggestion for you? Yes. Make a habit of listening to the weekly Parkinson’s Recovery radio show.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/parkinsons-recovery. You will find at least one suggestion in every show that will – I repeat will – help your friend get relief from the symptoms she is currently experiencing. It is free to listen.

You can download any of the previous shows for free. I have aired 90 shows. Your relative  can download any of the previous shows to an MP3 player and listen while they exercise.

From my contact with hundreds and hundreds of people who currently experience the symptoms of Parkinsons I have observed the following. The people who are hoping for a cure or for someone out there to fix them are feeling worse and worse with each passing week. The people who are taking responsibility for their health and take it upon themselves to figure out what their body is telling them are feeling better week by week.

The bottom line: Take responsibility for your life and you get better. Expect someone or something to fix you and you get worse.

Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Parkinsons Recovery
Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease

Cure for Parkinson’s

Question:

Outside of John Coleman and Nathan Zakheim, have you interviewed or met anyone else who has fully recovered (symptom free) from PD?  If so, could you tell me who they are and what they did to recover.

Thanks.

Carl

Response:

As you state above, I have interviewed two people who declare they are “symptom free” after having advanced symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease. They are John Coleman, ND and Nathan Zakheim. I included interviews with both persons in Pioneers of Recovery.

I document many other stories of recovery here on the blog and on my radio program. Generally, most people report symptoms that fluctuate widely that involve symptom free periods and periods when symptoms flare (usually connected to stress).

Before pondering your question I had planned to do just as you suggest. My initial idea was to maintain a count of people who are symptom free and those whose symptoms are improving. I talk with many people who are feeling much better, but I do not have their permission to tell their stories or even add them to the count. The only stories I can report during the radio program interviews and the e mails are by people who give me permission to post them (with their first names only).

Thanks to your question, I have decided not to construct a “count” on the basis of symptoms as a function of whether they fully or partially resolved.  I realize now that such a “count” would place the emphasis on the wrong side of the coin – on the goal of becoming symptom free. What is the  problem with this emphasis? You are most likely thinking, “Isn’t that the whole point of recovery?”

All successful recovery programs hinge on maintaining a healthy inventory of positive thoughts. The challenge for all of us is that our egos entangle us in a nightmare of negative thoughts throughout the day which trips us up and creates mobility difficulties.

We get angry:

Why am I not feeling better today?

We get frustrated:

Why did a new symptom flare up today? I have suffered long enough.

We get impatient:

Why do I have nothing to show from my hard work?

We get fearful:

Why does my family believe I will get worse and worse. Is it true Parkinson’s is “progressive”?

We get depressed:

Why should I bother trying anything new? Nothing is working out.

We get mental:

Where is the evidence for recovery?

I could continue with 100 pages of questions inspired by our cleaver egos, but you get the point from the short list above. Our egos keep us stuck in the mud. It happens to all of us. No one in a body escapes.

Here is the rub. When our thoughts throughout the day are intent on eliminating symptoms or becoming “symptom free” we give energy to what we do not wish to manifest. If we agonize about becoming symptom free, any hope of recovery will inevitably backfire. We get the opposite of what we want. We give energy to what we do not want. If a majority of thoughts during the day focus on becoming symptom free, we nurture the sympt0ms, guaranteeing they will continue to pester us.

I admit this sounds counter intuitive, so let me explain. Focusing on becoming “symptom free” suspends you in a space of negative thinking that hangs out in collective consciousness. Every thought has a frequency. Those that center around “eliminating symptoms” are low frequency thoughts that can never manifest health and wellness. Rather, such thoughts sustain disease and illness. The thought

I want to be symptom free”

focuses on what you do not want rather than what you do want to manifest.

A key to recovery is to take control over our thoughts moment to moment. As I wrote Five Steps to Recovery (which is all about transforming our thoughts), I monitored my own thoughts each day.

Geez. I could not believe what I discovered. I roll the same negative thoughts around my head every day. The number of new thoughts was unbelievably tiny when compared to the thousands of negative thoughts I recycled every day. It was if I was living the same day over and over as I  listened to the same  record of depressing songs.

Have you ever seen the movie Groundhog Day where Bill Murray re-lives the same  day every fricking day? The trap of negative thinking is just like the nightmare Bill Murray faced every day.  You might as well read the same book every day of your life, year after year. The first day the book is  interesting. After several months (much less decades) the book gets pretty darn boring.  The juices of life get drained very quickly.

When I keep recycling the same negative thoughts, I have no prayer of changing any circumstance in my life. I certainly have no hope of reversing a chronic set of symptoms.

Among those who occupy a body, who is “symptom free”? I suggest that the honest answer is no one. Not me. Not you. Not anyone who occupies a human body. Everyone experiences symptoms most days: perhaps a new ache, perhaps a familiar digestive challenge, perhaps depression, perhaps low energy, perhaps a sprain, perhaps anxiety.

What is the Count of Your Symptoms?

When I preview the list of symptoms that are associated with people who have the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, they include just about everything wrong that can happen to a person. Perhaps this sounds outrageous, but it is true.

Below is a streamlined list of symptoms reported by persons who have a diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease. A “streamlined list” means I have not included every symptom that people with Parkinson’s tell me they have experienced. As you read down the list, make a mental count of  which ones you have experienced at some point in your life time.

  • Stiffness
  • Numbness
  • Cramps
  • Balance
  • Depression
  • Repeating yourself
  • Anxiety
  • Apathy
  • Swallowing
  • Walking difficulties
  • Standing up straight
  • Constipation
  • Fatigue
  • Diarrhea
  • Urinating
  • Tremors
  • Drooling
  • Faintness on rising
  • Dizziness
  • Excessive sweating
  • Daytime sleepiness
  • Insomnia
  • Memory loss
  • Weight loss
  • Skin rashes
  • Restlessness
  • Memory challenges
  • Rigid muscles
  • Muscle spasms
  • Joint pain
  • Nightmares
  • Hallucinations
  • Bruising
  • Changes in sleep patterns
  • Speech/voice changes
  • Difficulty with stairs
  • Frequent urination
  • Circulation issues
  • Haggard look
  • Headaches
  • Arm/leg heaviness
  • Muscle spasms
  • Full body weakness
  • Pain
  • Difficulty breathing
  • Red rash
  • Arm/leg rigidity
  • Social smiling
  • Swollen ankles
  • Chest tightness
  • Tingling
  • Tremors
  • Warmth in body parts
  • Weak muscles

I do not know what your count is, but I have personally experienced all of the symptoms in the list above at one point or another in my lifetime.  I do not have the diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease.

How about now – in this very moment as I write these words? What symptoms am I experiencing  in this moment?

  1. I have incredible stiffness in my shoulders which always happens when I write every day.
  2. I have ringing in my ears which I have learned to ignore.
  3. I have an ache in the middle of my spine (T4-T5).
  4. My throat is restricted.
  5. I had memory loss a few minutes ago when I could not remember how to spell a word.
  6. I had a tinge of tingling in my left little finger a few moments ago.

My list of symptoms above pertains only to this single moment. I will not bore you with a list of my personal symptoms from this morning or yesterday, but I can assure you my list of symptoms differs from day to day.
This is normal for most people unless you are superman or superwoman. (I do not have any research evidence on Batman or Batwoman).

The body gives us a continuous feed of information. When we listen to the moment to moment information our bodies send us, we are in a much better position to make the adjustments that are needed for our body come back into balance. Instead of wishing I want to be “symptom free”, the better wish in my book of wishes is to be “symptom rich”.

If I were “symptom free” for one day, the likelihood my body would be out of balance is reasonably high. If I were symptom free for two days the likelihood my body would be out of balance is extremely high. If I were symptom free for a week, I dare say the probability my body would be out of balance would be assured. My personal mantra is thus:

Bring the symptoms on.

Don’t get me wrong. I do not like them one bit. I also do not know what I would do without them. I need the  information they give me to hang around the earth for a little longer.

If all of my thoughts zero in on the goal of becoming “symptom free,, there is no time or energy left to think about what I want to create in my life. I really do want to figure out what my soul needs to do in my life before my time is up. But if I choose to spend the rest of my day worrying about just one of my symptoms – say not being able to spell a word this morning – there will be no time in my day to ask my soul what it needs for nourishment. I am choosing to spend my time luxuriating in Worry Land which I visit frequently. Of course the process is repeated tomorrow as I worry about not being able to remember what I was worrying about the day before.  And so the process unfolds day after day as my enthusiasm for life diminishes.

If I focus my thoughts  on becoming “symptom free”,

  • I am not listening to my body.
  • I am detached from my body.
  • I am not connecting with the essence of who I am.

Because I am disconnected with my body, my symptoms in the moment will be sure to fester as other symptoms surface.

As I write this paragraph, I am not even aware of any of the symptoms that I listed a few minutes ago that were pestering me. I am not aware of them because my attention is focused in the moment on writing which is a true love of my life. Focus on writing and my energy sores. Focus on getting rid of my symptoms and my energy slides into the sewer.

How Do I Shift My Thinking

Bodies get out of balance. It happens. It happens to everyone.  The body always strives to return to balance. The natural state for the body is health and wellness, not disease and illness. How do I shift my hamster wheel of negative thinking which I have been riding on since childhood?

First, I recognize I can choose the thoughts I wish to think. I am the master of my own thoughts. I can spend my day fighting against the symptoms of the day because I am determined to be “symptom free.” Or, I can nourish my body with positive thoughts that will nourish my life force. I can write. I can dream. I can forward plan my life so that I am living the life I choose to live.

Second, I change my thinking habits. I can forward plan my day as the first activity of my day. It is 7:30 am. I have just woken up.

  • How do I want to spend my time today?
  • What do I want to accomplish?
  • What do I want to see happen?
  • What do I want to see happen in my life today?
  • What do I want to see happen in my life this month?
  • What do I want to see happen in my life this year and next year?

The more I can detail out what I want my future to look like, the more I can

  • sense it,
  • feel it,
  • taste it,
  • hear it,
  • see it,

The more energy the thought will amass to manifest. If I spend my day contemplating what I do not want to experience (like symptoms), my life lacks focus. My energy is drained. My life force is diminished. My body feels clogged down with dead energy.  I am able to manifest nothing other than feed the entrapment of my own ego which fuels my illness.

Thanks for asking the question. It has helped my realize that if I begin counting the number of people who are “symptom free”, I will be oiling everyone’s hamster wheel of  negative thinking.  When suspended in a space of negative thought forms, no one is in a position to manifest balance and harmony in their life.

I get energy from forward planning my life. I lose energy from addicting myself to negative, depressing thoughts  that drag me down into the pit of dark depression. My ego is always inviting me into the “mind sewer” of negative thinking.

I have decided it is my best interest to refuse the invitations. Mind sewers smell bad. Mind sewers are stagnant. Mind sewers breed disease. Mind sewers promote illness.  They are not a good place to live.

I choose to whisk away all the negativity in my thoughts. I do not have any control over ending wars in the middle east or curbing drug related deaths in New York City. I can control what I choose to think.

When I choose to focus my thoughts during the day on what I want to accomplish during my lifetime, I feel lighter, more alive, more energetic and more powerful. When my mind becomes a fertile garden of positive thoughts, miracles do happen. Often.

I will expand on these ideas during Jump Start to Wellness which will be held November 30th and December 1st at the Little Creek Resort Hotel in Shelton, Washington.

Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Parkinsons Recovery
© 2009 Parkinsons Recovery

Is there a Cure for Parkinson’s?

Question:

The problem is that no one has been ‘cured’ of Parkinsons…I mean no one. Everyone talks about John Coleman but he is a Bowen therapist and uses his ‘cure’ to promote his practice and generate income and clients. You might be surprised to know that there are people who are angry with his promotions and advertising…a charlatan they say. Parkinsons happens in the brain…and no amount of therapy is going to fix that…perhaps stem cell therapy in time. But not the remedies that merely address and help control the symptoms. It’s best to be honest and upfront about this I think. Otherwise Robert, please compile a list of people who have been ‘cured’ of Parkinsons…apart from John Coleman…and distribute it and say what cured them.

Thanks

John

Response:

Thanks so much for sending in your question. John Coleman himself  is very clear about not being “cured” himself. He is only symptom free.  I personally do not find value in hanging my own thinking on “curing” anything.  This is an idea which I discuss much more extensively in my forthcoming book, Road to Recovery.

I personally know John from attending a workshop that he gave four years ago. It was an excellent workshop with tons of information that was very helpful and useful. John works hard every day at being symptom free. As a naturopath doctor he has helped many people feel better. You can listen to my interview with him on my radio program which aired July 16, 2009 and judge for yourself.

I have encouraged John Coleman to document stories of people who have had “full” recoveries. I will continue to  encourage him again to document the stories for his clients who give permission.

As for your suggestion that I document stories of recovery – I totally agree with you. That is precisely what I have set my intention to do. At present I air interviews on the radio program with people who are feeling better to document what they are doing. I post e mails about recovery here on the blog. As an example, you can see a posting of an email here today who has a fascinating story about his recovery. All of my radio programs are archived, so you can listen to any program at any time. All of the blog entries here are also archived.

There are so many stories  out there and so many different programs and approaches that people adopt to get relief. The people I interview are not people who are “cured” to be sure. They are people who are leading full and complete lives. Most still have symptoms of one type of another but have found incredible ways to address them in one way or another.

I have been receiving reports from people who are doing a great deal better – with several days or a week or longer of being symptom free. I always ask if I can interview them, but sometimes the answer is no, not now, People want to wait and see if the good news holds.

As the news unfolds and I get more and more stories from people who are feeling a lot better I will compile them for my Pioneers of Recovery series.

Again, thanks for the suggestion. Your e mail encourages me to compile the next Pioneers of Recovery series that documents what people are doing to get relief from their symptoms. My work is to figure out what helps people feel better and document it all through the blogs, books and the radio program.

I sent John Coleman your questions and comments  above. He forwarded for posting the following thoughtful and informative response and has given me permission to post his response below.

Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Parkinsons Recovery

Posted below is John Coleman’s response to John’s questions and comments which address questions about a  cure for Parkinson’s:

Dear John:

Thank you for initiating this discussion on what it means to become free from symptoms of a diagnosed incurable disorder. Whenever I enter into a discussion on any subject, I find that it is best to make sure that the information I am using is accurate and clearly stated. Therefore, I would like to correct several misapprehensions on your part.

1.    I have never claimed to be cured from any disease. I have never claimed to cure anybody. I have never claimed to have found a cure for Parkinson’s disease. So when you state that I “uses his ‘cure’ to promote his practice and generate income and clients” , and claimed to have cured others, you are deliberately misquoting all my published literature, my newspaper and radio interviews, and my websites.

2.    My professional qualifications are rather more extensive than you have claimed. I am a qualified naturopath (known as a Naturopathic Doctor in USA and  Naturopathic Physician in many European countries), having studied at two prominent Melbourne College’s – The Southern School of Natural Therapies and the Australian College of Naturopathic Medcine. I am accredited by all appropriate professional bodies, approved by the Australian government, accepted by professional insurance companies and many health insurance funds. I am also a qualified Bowen therapist, having qualified in basic Bowen therapy and Neurostructural Integration Technique. I also hold a certificate of massage.

3.    My charitable work within society is well documented. I received a Tattersall’s award for my work in founding Very Special Kids (a support group for families whose children face life-threatening disorders), a professional excellence award from the Australian Naturopathic Practitioners Association for community education (most offered without charge and/or at my expense), and was a finalist in the Pride Of Australia Medal Courage Awards in 2007 for my work with Very Special Kids and my recovery from Parkinson’s disease. All those in charge of presenting these awards are intelligent, professional people, and investigated my history and claims thoroughly before offering the awards.

4.    I have lectured to a number of conferences, including an international conference on Parkinson’s disease, and have conducted workshops for health professionals in several countries instructing them on my research into recovery from “incurable” disorders. Offering this information around the world has cost me many thousands of dollars of my own money.

5.    While there are many medical practitioners who find my ideas unacceptable, there are also a number of prominent neurologists who encourage their patients diagnosed with Parkinson’s or multiple sclerosis to work with me

Now that we have brought some accuracy to the discussion, let me say that I agree totally with you that day is no cure for Parkinson’s disease, in fact there is no cure for any disease. We can, however, create an environment in which our body can become free from symptoms. That is the story of my recovery. I created an environment in and around my nerve cells that allows me to live a life with no symptoms of Parkinson’s disease or multi-system atrophy, providing I continue to be conscientious in taking care of my health.

You are correct that the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease originate in the brain. If you wish to educate your self more about this, you will do well to read “The Biology of Belief” (Prof. Bruce Lipton), “Saving Your Brain” (Dr. Jeff Victoroff), “When The Body Says No” (Dr. Gabor Maté), “The Brain That Changes Itself” (Dr. Norman Doidge). These books will give you a thorough grounding in the fairly basic science you need to understand this process. Once you have read these books, I am sure that you will understand that Western medicine can currently only offer temporary control of Parkinson’s symptoms, while my work is focused on addressing the cause of the symptoms. If you look into the process of stem cell research and development, you will also understand that the only change required to change a stem cell from its immature state into a cell producing dopamine is a change of environment (this is what they do in the laboratory at vast expense). This change is possible within our brain, and you will understand that this is the prime focus of all my work.

If you choose to read all my work with an open mind, you will see that Bowen therapy, while a useful and important therapy, constitutes only about 3% of the recovery process. There are some homeopathic remedies that support another 13%, but more than 80% of the recovery process comes from within the individual, the changes they are prepared to make to their life and attitude, and these changes cost little or nothing.

I am very grateful that you have given me this opportunity to clarify my position with regard to cure and recovery. You may also be interested to know that this work does not provide me with sufficient income to support a basic lifestyle. More than half my income is from the aged pension in Australia, with some money coming from my general naturopathic practice, and a little from helping people improve their life after diagnosis with Parkinson’s or multiple sclerosis.

If I can ever gain a little funding, I will be glad to publish the stories of those who have fully recovered, those who have significantly improved their lives, and those who have cared for them. I am sure you understand that this will take time that I can ill afford while I am struggling to make a basic living.

I wish you all the best in finding ways to improve your health, and trust that you will be surrounded with love and joy in the days to come.

Best wishes

John Coleman ND
www.returntostillness.com.au
www.parkinsonsrecoveryprogram.com