My mother, who lived to 96, had a stroke in her final years, and I remember her left side was severely disabled, very much like advanced PD.
I did a search and found that indeed, there is a temporary loss of BBB protection following a stroke, see
http://www.neurologyreviews.com/jul0...inbarrier.html
"it is becoming evident that the barrier itself may be subject to loss, perhaps underlying the initiation of chronic disease. In stroke, for example, there is a transient loss of blood-brain barrier function that happens within minutes or hours of the event, he said. In other settings, there appears instead to be a "leakage" across the barrier that may be protracted over time, leading to chronic diseases such as multiple sclerosis or Alzheimer's disease. "There's plenty of evidence … that if you lose blood-brain barrier function—even a low fraction of its function but for an extended period of time—you may allow entry into the brain, [of] molecules or cells that cause the development of pathology," he said."
The paper also says,
""How … [many] of these changes that are seen in pathological situations really relate to the loss of barrier function, and how early can we detect these changes in chronic neurological disease?" Dr. Janigro asked. The answers may make it possible to aggressively treat the blood-brain barrier disease, thereby preventing the cascade of events that lead to full-blown pathology."
I looked up the symptoms of a stroke,
numbness, weakness or inability to move the face, arm or leg on one side of the body
trouble with vision - sudden loss of sight in one eye, blind spots or double vision
confusion or difficulty understanding
difficulty speaking (this is called dysphasia or aphasia)
difficulty swallowing (this is called dysphagia)
problems walking, loss of balance or co-ordination
Sounds familiar!
- Weakness, arm or leg, One side of the body
- Problems walking, loss of balance, coordination.
- Difficulty swallowing,
These are my symptoms exactly, particularly walking and loss of balance. (Remember my fall into the greenhouse).
I should have realised this earlier, before I was diagnosed with PD, my wife told friends she thought I had had a stroke!!
Recently, we went to a restaurant, and the man in front of me was walking to the door with a walking stick. I followed him with my walking stick, and we all laughed. It seemed as though I was imitating him, our walk was so similar. I said to him, "Parkinson's???" No, he said, A stroke.
Take care of your BBB. Take curcumin with bioperine and you may stop a stroke as well as slowing your PD progression. Try adding anything that reduces BBB permeability, CDP choline, alpha lipoic acid, etc. Can we find anything that has such a strong effect in reducing permeability, that it switches us from off to on? (Totally stopping leakage of dopamine out of the BBB, and stopping leakage in of toxins.) Preferably a natural compound, like curcumin, or one already in the body, but probaly deficient, like CDP choline.
By the way, CDP choline is prescribed by doctors, to aid recovery after a stroke!!
Ron