Something quite astonishing happens to me under a certain circumstance: when I am in a grocery store shopping and pushing a grocery cart, my PD symptons seem to abate. My posture and gait become normal, my legs seem too function at a normal pace. While my hands are on the cart I feel normal. The second I let go, my symptoms return. Grasp the cart handle and begin pushing, and I am seemingly symptom free. I know this sounds unbelievable but it is true, and I have no explaination for this phenomenon.
I have seen a youtube video of Michael J Fox ice skating with fluidity and gracefullness. As long as he is in movement he appears to be without PD symptoms.
Oliver Sacks, a well known neurologist who wrote the book "Awakenings" reports that one of his patients who, suffered from severe parknsonism, could play Chopin beautifully if you could get her to the piano.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nnLTPPDRXI

This leads me to a statement that I quote from ************

Dopaminergic Neurons

Dopamine is produced in the dopaminergic neurons, one of dozens of cell types in the brain. Dopamine formation is this cell's unique function. Nearly all cell types reproduce. There are only a few cell types that don't. One of these is the dopaminergic neurons-the cells involved with Parkinson's Disease. So there is irreversible cell loss in Parkinson's Disease. HOWEVER, NO STUDY HAS EVER DEMONSTRATED THE WIDELY HELD BELIEF THAT THERE IS CONSIDERABLE, AND THEREFORE OVERWHELMING CELL LOSS IN PARKINSON'S DISEASE. THE SUDIES PREVIOUSLY CLAIMED TO SHOW THIS HAVE ACTUALLY DEMONSTRATED GREATLY REDUCED CELL ACTIVITY RATHER THAN A LOSS OF THE CELLS THEMSELVES.

This statement suggests to me that maybe pwp have Dopamine neurons that are in a dormant state. Under certain conditions these dopaminergic neurons can be "awakened". Another way to think of Parkinson's disease is that it is "insufficient dopamine function". This sort of sounds less ominous than a "disease"...

If, under the right circumstances, pwp can function normally without pd symptoms, how could this be if if dopaminergic cells are lost. What is the explaination for this?