Thanks Rick for raising the issue of constipation again: it's an important topic for me.

For the sake of completeness, Rick in the quotation section of his last post (except the paragraph beginning "The darned GI system ... ") is quoting me, Post 21, 12th February, 2011.

On the issue of straining while constipated, the instant I know I'm going to be able to defecate, I have, I believe a surge of dopamine. The inverse is also true: if I have more dopamine in my body, I'm more likely to defecate. (A mistake that I frequently make is on feeling the urge when I get up, and before I take my drugs, to sit on the toilet immediately: 2 hours later I've not been and I'm "off", with little chance of going for several more hours.)

On the issue of faecal transplants and Parkinson's, as I understand the situation, we are almost no further advanced in our understanding of whether faecal transplants are effective for PD than we were nearly 3 years ago.

Does anyone have recent news of Borody's work in Australia?

However, the evidence seems to be strong for its effectiveness in treating C.diff.

There was an interesting report in The Independent newspaper this week by Charlie Parker:

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-st...g-8884846.html

This described the work of Dr Clokie's team at Leicester University on the use of specific bacteriophages (viruses) found in the gut to kill specific bacteria. Their concern was C.diff, but it seems to me to potentially have implications for PD.

Apparently similar bacteriophage techniques has been used for some time in Eastern Europe. Does anyone have any epidemiological evidence that PD prevalence rates are lower there?

John