Hi Laura, as is often the case, you raise a really interesting topic!

I have often thought that the whole theory of our cells being dead was probably not quite right, that they are dysfunctional in some way. This because we are able often to do the things we cannot do at other times, not just because we are supplementing with l-dopa, agonists etc, but the paradoxical offs and ons can do this too. Regardless of drug intake. So how can the cells be dead.

Also there are anecdotal tales of people in very old age being taken gradually off PD meds, or more precisely having them lowered to a minimum because of side-effects that are really bothersome, like hallucinations, and not losing function. I have heard this anecdotally from health professionals too, who could not account for it.

If this does indeed happen, is this a kind of recovery from dopamine depletion that occurred at an earlier stage, do we need less dopamine in v old age anyway, or is it because cells have revived in some way. There are few studies that are ground breaking in this age group, they are usually about the negatives rather than anything positive.

The other thing that always makes me wonder about this is my own personal relationship to my lack of functioning. I always feel just a whisker away from being able to do things; this is much the same feeling when frozen on the spot by some decision-making process that has gone wrong, either a proper freeze, which I only get rarely, or a 'choice' freeze which I get often and regularly. These can be overcome, given a bit of time.

Are there studies that examine this phenomenon rather than just observe? Which elicit patient insights? I am not sure. Still the questions do persist....

Last, there are some really interesting studies that do do with how people 'vibrate'. I know I cannot do this topic justice as I cannot precisely recall the science behind it. It does though raise the question for me, is the reason that we don't function properly as much to do with some inner metronome being set wrong, and is this why dancing can unlock us? Because when dancing, for some of us at least, PD completely remits. So how does that work if the cells are dead? See also the current post on Irish dancing. Better real time scan studies might reveal more about this. Cycling too raises the same questions.....