Category Archives: research study

Recent Research has Profound Implications for Understanding the Causes of Parkinson’s Symptoms

Have you drawn the conclusion that the fungal infection on your toes or the black spots on your hands have nothing to do with the causes of Parkinson’s symptoms?

It is now time to reevaluate that conclusion.

causes-of-Parkinson's-symptoms
Can Toxins in the Hands be transported to the brain?

Many people who experience the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease are convinced the causes of Parkinson’s symptoms reside in the brain and only the brain.  After all – how can an infection in your hands spread to your brain?

A plethora of recent research however suggests the cause of Parkinson’s symptoms could well originate in the gut – or in toxins lodged at the extremities. Despite this compelling body of evidence, many remain unconvinced.

A revolutionary discovery by Neil Theise and his colleagues from a New York University School of Medicine study published in Scientific Reports may shift your opinion. Heretofore unseen and unacknowledged transportation highways exist throughout the body. They occupy the in-between spaces in the body which is why they have never been seen. Until now that is.

A fluid filled type of latticework of connective tissue has been discovered to exist throughout the body including the digestive organs, arteries and vital organs. It occupies – of all things – the in-between spaces. This is a revolutionary discovery. Advanced electron microscopy shows collagen bundles that look like long, snaky cells ebb and flow much like the tides of the ocean.

This new discoveries means, in a nutshell, that toxins and bacteria lodged anywhere in the body can be transported to any location including the brain. If you have concluded that those dark spots on your hands or that fungus on your toes have nothing to do with your symptoms, might I now suggest otherwise.

Dark blemishes are usually indications of toxins or infections which the body disperses to the extremities (hands, arms, feet, legs, head) to protect vital organs. This may well be only a temporary “SOS” measure. The recent discovery about a hidden transportation highway means that toxins lodged at the extremities today may be transported to the brain or vital organs tomorrow.

Most of the discussion about this recent discovery pertains to cancers for obvious reasons. Implications for neurological conditions are also profound.

The bottom line: Get serious about detoxing. Take steps to strengthen your immune system. That fungus growing on your big toe may wind up in your brain.

Robert Rodgers PhD
Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease
www.parkinsonsdisease.me

Case Study Approach to Parkinson’s Research

HI Robert,

I very much appreciate your work in finding relief and even occasional cures for Parkinson’s Disease. I have Parkinson’s Disease and I am an engineer/scientist. I am concerned that some of those who have found cures or relief from their symptoms may not have actually had PD. As you know, PD is very difficult to diagnose correctly and is frequently misdiagnosed. Some PD symptoms are caused by other conditions.

Do you screen your success cases for the following two criteria: diagnosed by a movement disorder neurologist and (2) has a positive response to dopamine replacement. If the success stories meet this standard, then I personally believe you have a true success.

Please don’t get me wrong. I am 100% on your side and I have read your first book and found a lot of uplifting and good ideas in the book. I want nothing more than to find a cure for my PD. By the way, I submitted a saliva sample to 23andMe and even though I have PD I have no genetic markers for PD. This would suggest something in my environment was the cause.

Keep up the good work.

Larry

Response:

I am approaching my research with Parkinsons in a way very differently than has been my standard approach in my previous research contributions. Previously I would have set up in the beginning a long string of data fields for each person I have interviewed (and there are many). I would have ask each person this long list of questions – you identify several good ones above – and coded them into the data set. I of course would also have interviewed people without Parkinsons as “controls” and asked them the same questions.

When I had a sample size of 500 or so, I would have begun to crunch the numbers and provided a wide variety of statistical analyses. This approach succeeds in getting published  in the best of journals.

It does not succeed in helping us understand the complexities of the causes of neurological symptoms associated with Parkinsons. I decided if I was ever going to make a contribution to the world of science I had to step out of the box I had crammed myself into for 20 years and approach the research in a different way.

My new approach has yielded incredible insights into what is really happening with  people who currently experience neurological challenges. These insights have come from interviewing people with symptoms associated with a diagnosis of Parkinson’s who have  stories to tell about what helps and what does not help. In science, the approach is known as “grounded research” which is a fancy word for case study research.

My former research – which was very quantitative – is viewed as much more prestigious at universities than the less admired and valued case study research approach. It is also usually much easier to publish. I succeeded with the quantitative approach and was generously rewarded with tenure and promotions to full professor.

The lesson I have learned from adopting the quantitative approach is that the quantitative approach yields few insights and fewer discoveries. I have concluded there is wisdom and great value in the case study approach.

I also believe it has been useful from a research perspective to step away from the “box” of having been diagnosed with Parkinsons Disease. I defer to the medical doctors to follow down that pathway. They have the qualifications and training to diagnose. Only with a diagnosis can they prescribe the medications.

As you point out, many people are misdiagnosed because there is no definitive test for Parkinsons to begin with. This is no fault of the doctors since there is no definitive test for Parkinsons. For my research, it does not help to start with a diagnosis since so many are wrong.

For example, if my sample is confined to people who have a Parkinson’s diagnosis, a surprising proportion would actually wind up having Lyme disease. My potential sample of case study subjects is not confined only to  people who are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease by a medical doctor.  But in actuality, most if not all of my interview subjects have been diagnosed with PD.

What helps is simply to acknowledge the symptoms a person is experiencing which are associated with Parkinson’s Disease. The focus is then placed on the symptoms rather than a label of Parkinson’s Disease. When we begin to focus on symptoms, we jump out of a box of constrained and preconceived notions about Parkinson’s. The door is open to endless possibilities.

We are discovering that the causes of neurological problems associated with the symptoms of Parkinsons Disease include a long list of contributing factors. If people can determine which factors are relevant to their situation, they can find a therapy or treatment that can help resolve whatever symptoms are being experienced.

Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease
http://www.parkinsonsdisease.me

Insights and Discoveries about Parkinson’s Disease

I have also focused energies this summer on answering the following question which I keep getting from a number of members:

I am doing everything right according to Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease. I have pursued a number of the suggestions offered by radio show guest. Yet, I am still experiencing symptoms (though they are better). What am I doing wrong?

I address the answers I have found to this question in the telesminar recording that you can hear by clicking on the arrow below. The session lasts about 20 minutes. I also preview what you will see what is coming up over the next few months at Parkinsons Recovery

Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease
http://www.parkinsonsdisease.me

Replay:

Exciting Discoveries from Vocal Profiles of Persons with Parkinsons Symptoms

Sharry Edwards and Dr. Roman Chrucky, MD were my guests on the radio show today and what an incredible show it was. Sharry has been doing voice profiles for persons with Parkinsons for several months now, as has Shawndeya Costello at the Parkinsons Recovery Summit. With a critical body of data available, Sharry has done an analysis and found some fascinating deficiencies and factors that are common to the people studied. This show is well worth taking an hour and a half to hear. It could well change your life.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/parkinsons-recovery

Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease
http://www.parkinsonsdisease.me

 

Barriers to Mental Health Care Utilization in Parkinson’s Disease (PD)

A survey study for PD patients funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)

HELP US FIND ANSWERS


Dr. Roseanne Dobkin, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey is conducting a national survey in order to better understand the difficulties that PD patients may experience using the mental health care system.  Interested participants will be asked to fill out an anonymous survey which will take 15-30 minutes to complete. The survey can be completed online, over the telephone, or on paper.

A history of mental health treatment IS NOT required for participation.  We are interested in responses from participants who have had, as well as from those who have not had, mental health treatment in the past.

Results from the study may be used to develop new strategies to improve the access to and the quality of mental health care for people with Parkinson’s disease. There is no payment for participation in this study.

Click on the link below to take the survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/improvecare4pd

For more information, please call Dr. Dobkin at:

732 – 235 – 4051