(A letter from the future. Another different way of exposing what God, life, the wise neuroscientists, my father and the other patients and carers have taught me in 26 years - between 1994 and 2020 - ).

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"Jesus, you know Dad has been diagnosed with Parkinson's. Don't panic. But don't get too confident. Levodopa is not perfect. I know you don't know what Parkinson's is or what levodopa is yet. You'll have time to find out in 18 years...

Dad is still a good age (54). The body is in good condition. Also, he hasn't taken any medication yet, especially levodopa. He can take protein without limitations: egg yolk, sardines, avocado... Yes, one egg a day.

You know I'm not a doctor and I can't legally give you any advice. So I'll just tell you what I would do in your case, which is redundant. Like two friends or two brothers having coffee. Or yourself, talking to yourself in front of a cup.

First of all, we don't really know if you have Parkinson's, because the Michael J. Fox Foundation - you know, the famous actor who just publicly acknowledged that he has Parkinson's in a television interview - which will be created in 6 years, will recognize a 25% misdiagnosis in the early stages. And I suspect it may be more. In any case, the measures to be taken are practically the same. Something is wrong and prudence demands that all possibilities be covered. This is allowed by certain foods and supplements.

Secondly, a question: what do you think is the main cause of his illness? You don't have to tell me. It is enough for him to know. Ask him.

The three key elements for his case, in my opinion, are:

1 - Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), essential to produce dopamine from dopa and for a thousand other things. Pyridoxal phosphate (its active form) is the most efficient coenzyme in Nature (B2 and C are needed to activate B6). The sources to start can be brewer's yeast and pistachios (about 50 contain 0.5 mg). Any trace of this vitamin will be banned, but don't pay too much attention to them. You haven't read the package insert for Sinemet or Madopar properly. They still live in the world before 1975.

2 - Magnesium, very deficient in current diets and neuroprotective, regulator of stress, muscular and nervous impulse, necessary for glutathione synthesis, for genes, for almost everything. It needs the B6 to reach the interior of the neuron.

Sources can be the old pistachios and a salad with lots of green each day (magnesium is the heart of chlorophyll).

3 - Vitamin C, good for everything, like magnesium and B6. It protects the brain from oxidation, the liver and the integrity of the blood-brain barrier, etc.

They cover the entire spectrum of possible causes of Parkinson's, although there are others more specialized: B2 for mobility, omega 3 and turmeric for depression, milk thistle or artichokes for the liver, melatonin for sleep, magnesium carbonate as a laxative, B12 for balance, etc.

Exercise and vitamin D from sunbathing (and adding a vitamin D3 supplement) are ESSENTIAL. They slow down the disease. There are still a few years to go, but Oguh in 2014 will show that physical exercise stops the disease and Suzuki in 2013 for D3 (1200 IU a day minimum).

The mental attitude is very important in Parkinson's: the placebo effect can reach 30% or more of motor improvement in those who expect levodopa and receive only sugar in the studies (the famous placebo).

Another pillar is to control the neurotoxic homocysteine: Ahlskog recommends in his books 25 mg of B6, 2.5 mg of B9 and 2 mg (2000 mcg) of B12.

A good vitamin and mineral supplement can help you as another pillar, like Supradyn.


SUMMARY:

If you can locate a possible cause or causes, so much the better. For example, for brutal stress and anxiety, more magnesium and brewer's yeast, lots of natural and supplemental vitamin C, omega 3, etc. If not, open up the range, with foods and recipes that cover it all:

Green tea
Egg yolk (since the giant PURE study of 2017, we are allowed one a day). Fundamental for neurotransmitters.
Avocado
Broccoli.
Turmeric.
Sardines, fresh or canned.
Gazpacho, a gift from Mediterranean diet.
Salad.
When the time comes, if necessary, take Sinemet or Madopar in small quantities and join Mucuna with green tea polyphenols (Teavigo).

Dad has horrible nutritional habits. He eats badly, all garbage. He drinks cola and coffee only. It costs a lot of work to change them. Insist on it. He adds things so that little by little they make room in his diet. You can go slowly: add a daily tomato in the form of a salad; an orange, an apple and a kiwi; one or two raw or steamed carrots, etc.

The ideal is a Mediterranean diet with oriental touches (green tea, turmeric, ginger, etc.). The "zero" or "light" is neurotoxic poison (aspartame). Take it all off.

A little bit of fried tomato with turmeric and black pepper (5 to 1 ratio; if you use a dessert spoon, a teaspoon of turmeric and the generous tip of black pepper, more or less). It is antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, cleans the pineal gland that produces melatonin, it crosses the protective barrier of the brain: so it attacks free radicals and pro-inflammatory molecules, it raises glutathione...).

No worries, but don't leave it for a few months or for next year, because you have a golden opportunity.

If you don't convince him, he's going to have a very bad time.

Do not forget to buy the first two books of Dr. Gonzalez Maldonado's neurologist when they appear in 1997 and in 2004, "The strange case of Dr. Parkinson" (it will be Dad's favorite) and "Heterodox treatments in Parkinson's disease", which will be your favorite. Yes, laugh. But little by little you will stop being a Neanderthal, a caveman, to open your mind to the new. And they say that miracles don't exist...

If you don't listen to me, it will take you 26 years to realize this and more than 50,000 hours of research and study, but I think that then you will be able to "starve" the Parkinson's, not the sick one. But don't trust or waste the precious time and knowledge you have been given. Many, many millions before and now did not have that chance.

Check with your doctor and pharmacist. Perhaps the neurologists will laugh or get angry. It was the usual thing in your time, but in mine they are already opening their minds and letting their patients try if they know it won't hurt them. A brave and humane attitude. Osler would be happy. So would Hippocrates.

A big hug and lots of encouragement.

P.S.: I am enclosing the book that I will write in 2015. For your eyes only. So you can save Dad from living in hell on earth. In 2020 we have learned a thousand times more than you know in 1994. Don't forget that. There is light at the end of the tunnel."