Quote:
Originally Posted by SueC
Soccertese,
You are right. This is expensive - although I would not say all that complicated. My understanding, however, is that without insurance, PD meds run ~$1000/month. At least that is what someone I met who has to pay for his meds pays. The supplements for Amino Acid Therapy are not nearly that much.
Dr. Hinz publishes the knowledge he has gathered. Traditional medical practices will never embrace this treatment; it is too time-consuming and most people just want the quickest fix, which this is not. And Big Pharma can't make money selling supplements so, of course, they are not interested in doing any research into this treatment. (If you look at published drug studies, by the way, you usually don't have to look too far to find significant conflicts of interest.)
It has been encouraging for me to read of others ("anonymous patients," as you call them) who have been helped by this approach. No treatment is perfect for everyone. In the case of my sister, however, Amino Acid Therapy has been nothing short of miraculous! (This after trying every other option we could find and actually being harmed by prescription meds.) It has given her quality of life again! I will continue to tell everyone I meet about it in hopes that it might help someone else.
Best regards,
Sue
(the sister of a REAL patient who has TRULY been helped in a marvelous way using Amino Acid Therapy)
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i'm always a skeptic, can't help it. i agree that big pharma wouldn't want to investigate a similar protocol but it's not impossible to raise funds and find a researcher who would test this procedure or at the minimum interview patients who are taking these supplements and do case histories and possibly interview their neuros and write up a report. i participated in a small clinical trial conducted at a university to test forced exercise, their budget was below $$50,000. It wouldn't cost a fortune to hire an independent investigator to follow 10 verified pd patients who were on conventional meds and have the investigator observe how they do on the HINZ protocol and write up a report. they would need a neuro involved to test the patients and permission to see their medical records. ain't going to happen.
i think there is a huge conflict of interest when a doctor sells proprietary supplements to a patient, especially when the patient has to buy those supplement forever. in most cases, doctors don't sell drugs to patients, there is a conflict of interest plus for most drugs the reimbursement by insurance is so lo'w it wouldn't make sense. you have indicated you buy your mucuna from someone else but i assume you are the exception
you state your sister was harmed by conventional meds, may i ask what they were, the dosages and the harmful affects? all pd drugs have potential side affects and i'm not going to defend any of them except carbidopa/levodopa.
the monthly cost for pd drugs could be $1000/month if you are taking non-generics such as azilect and rytary. if you are just taking generic carbidopa/levodopa i think the private monthly cost would be less than $300, maybe even $200, this is a very cheap drug.
for me at least, with all the pd support groups out there and the internet making it easy to compare notes and find info, with the MJFF, other pd organizations and individuals funding research on alternative pd treatments - exercise for example, dancing, boxing - you can't patent that - there's no good reason why the HINZ protocol hasn't been independently tested.
if you study the history of treating parkinson's, there has been research on taking vitamin c, vitamin e, coq-10 and amino acids. maybe noone has done exactly what HINZ has done but everything under the sun was tried to treat pd, patients had a very bleak future.