So GREAT to hear from you all. Having confused visions of Bob's brain cells peeing on City Hall steps while Greg scarfs another Guinness and sings his favorite Ozzy song...oh, never mind.....

Greg, you are right when you say not everything I've tried would work for every PD patient - just as I think no one approach will help everyone. And I definitely needed to have a certain level of faith in the authority giving me new information to work with, based on the belief system I grew up in, etc. That said, it's surprising sometimes how much we can accept new paradigms when truly motivated...

I was not going to explain my history with this work I am doing until I had a better understanding and more complete experience - I am very much mid-process with it. But I got so excited looking at my 'leftover' almost full bottle of Stalevo last night...

I went to see a doctor in Switzerland - he came recommended by my cousin, who works with him there. It is a body of work that I believe emanates from German New Medicine. It postulates that much, if not almost all, illness (particularly chronic stuff I would imagine) results from unresolved conflicts both from one's own lfe, and those of the past few generations of ancestors. It focuses on 'decoding' the brain's response to these incompletely grieved-for traumas by largely unconsciously re-enacting or expressing them in the body through the symbolic constructs of illness.

Anyone still with me? Remember how many PD people have said that they experienced some kind of huge emotional shock in their lives just prior to onset? The idea behind this work is that illness can be resolved through making conscious and completing the mourning process for these inherited stresses, thereby essentially reprogramming the brain back into health. Now my understanding of this work is at this time very incomplete, so I hesitate to characterize it further.

The doctor I saw is not a neurologist but a brilliant physician who has worked with many extremely challenging medical cases. He is focused and thorough - he is the only doctor that ever wanted me to get a DAT scan to confirm diagnosis (all my US doctors have been happy with 15 minutes of watching me do toe taps before committing me to a lifetime of treatment....) I have enough French to work with him - he speaks no English - but I am looking for English-language materials and practitioners to disseminate to you all, if interested. The work is fascinating and moving, and involves reflection and deep examination of one's own life story, one's memories, passions, disappointments, family configurations, etc.. It brings into focus the ghostly stories of past generations and those who gave us life. It is about love and forgiveness of ourselves, our families, our communities... And this doctor is very clear about his particular intentions: "I am not interested in being resigned. I am not interested in being hopeful. I am interested in results."

A lot of the reading I have been doing about the plasticity of the brain, PTSD, and other related brain issues have been seminal in preparing me to accept this approach. These authors have included Norman Doidge, Peter Levine, Lewis Mehl-Madrona, and others.

I will let you know more later, but as I said, I wanted to acknowledge what I think is on the cutting edge of a huge step in dealing with the body, the psyche, and the meanings of our lives, the construction of a truly humane medicine.