So true, Fiona, so sad, but so true. You articulated how I have been feeling lately so well. I have been daily researching this disease for only 3 years, so small compared to so many of you here, and lately am becoming depressed at the lack of progress. The PD research and "progress" this last year seemed especially pathetic. So much so, that I worry that people will stop donating for research, after all, why bother if an increasing amount of research is being conducted by conflict-of-interest scientists, or focusing on drugs we already have, etc. All that money, and all we really have to show for it is....well, who here is on anything new that has profoundly helped them?

I have been doing a lot of reading on autism, I realize it's a different disease and perhaps a completely different pathology, but I find it very interesting that like PD, autistic folks differ vastly in their presentation, symptoms, and response to meds, diet, and therapies. Perhaps the same can be said for most diseases...but also, autistic folk get much worse when stressed, just like PD. Again, perhaps this can be said for many diseases, but it's another commonality.

Further, autistic folk have underlying medical conditions that, when they are resolved, the autism typically improves, sometimes completely. The underlying conditions are things like constipation, recurrent ear aches/infections, reflux, allergies, not sleeping well, etc. Sound familiar? I was shocked to learn just today that 80 percent of the immune system is involved with the gastrointestinal tract (from Healing and Preventing Autism by Jenny McCarthy and Dr. Kartzinel). I had no idea these two systems were that connected! This hints at so much that I need to think about it some more to consider the implications and how we can use that to our advantage in dealing with PD.

Does anyone ever feel that even though they eat as well as they can, salad, fresh fruits, lean meat, etc., that they aren't getting the nutrition they need?That something is missing, but dont' know what it is? Curious. This to me hints that malabsorption may be at play in PD, as it is in autism. (also well-funded and heavily researched, but no cure....)

I think summer is harder too because it seems research slows down and things don't move like they do during the school year. But I do think many of the things I have read about here are promising, some as much as what is coming out of research projects, and if they help some with PD, that' great. Thank heavens we have places like this forum where our collective experience, successful and otherwise, can be shared. I'm very grateful to everyone for contributing what they can, when they can. Love the rat!