Another white rat report: amoxicillin...I won't go into why or how we ended up with half a bottle of this nasty stuff, but we did...decided to see how it worked for PD.

No immediate radical improvementwe could see, which conflicts which what Peg and others have reported (although they used a different class of antiobiotics)....BUT, sense of smell is returning (this morning: french toast and stinky organic fertilizer (fish emulsion, hard to miss that one, I admit)...plus, a lump way under the skin we were told would have to be surgically removed has noticeably shrunk.

We're out of the stuff now but I am really wanting to pursue this. Amoxcycillin is a very basic antiobiotic and our vet has given it to us for years for our pets...so what can be the harm?

Anyone have any experience with this, particularly the penicillin-derived first-line antibiotics? And over what period of time? Thanks.

The most explicit that I can come up with that is more than anecdotal is a member of PLM who has taken Penicillin VK daily since 1952. She had a heart valve replaced that year and has taken 250 mg daily as a prophylactic. She is 64 and was Dx in 2004. While it did not prevent her getting PD, she is in the absolute lowest rate of progression with mild symptoms and only Requip and Amantodine. Whether a higher dose would have prevented it entirely we can't know. You can view her profile at
http://www.patientslikeme.com/patients/view/Anika

amoxicillin is so cheap. the idea of a massive infection raging through our bodies would be welcome at this point.

anyone know how many years cattle have been give antibiotics? I love steak [rib eye yummy] but a lifetime of meat eating surely could introduce some bacteria.

i am allergic to penicillin tho, at least i am told not to take it after breaking out in hives the last time i did.

lurking, how bad is the nose with you? i can't smell my grandson except occasionally when he comes in all sweaty. i don't smell cat litter no matter how full the box is. are you that bad and did your sense of smell stay with you? [after amoxicillin]

Paula, it's actually my spouse that has PD but I'll answer anyway! It is interesting, he can smell cinnamon and vanilla when he holds the bottles near his nose (we do this in the morning sometimes as an aromatherapy) but has a hard time with flowers like roses or gasoline (which is dangerous) or a musty smell (like when the air conditioner comes on first thing in the season)...unfortunately, he can smell the dog doo someone has tracked into the house.

I have read this is common, that most PWP don't have complete loss of smell, they can smell some things but not others, and sometimes that changes...one day, can't smell lemon, next week, smells lemon.

There doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to it, but I do believe this: if the sense of smell improves, the PD is improving and it's not dopamine-related. I have read that the loss of sense of smell is not related to dopamine at all, and if you think about it, it makes sense, because taking dopamine does NOT restore the sense of smell, not even a little.

I just re-read an excellent article entitled "Beating a Dead Horse" written by a doc at Mayo, and it's all about how PD is much much more than dopamine. I don't have the full article and can't get it but will post more once I'm able to summarize what I understand it to say.

i thought it was your husband but sometimes i wondered if he posted under your name....you know pd and if only everyone had such a knowledgeable partner.

anyway what you said about his symptoms are classic. I can pick up smells once in awhile with no logical reason to explain it. I am positive this illness is not just dopamine.

the analogy that works for me regarding pd at this point in time [and that will change i'm certain] is that we are crashing - coming apart - like a computer on a long crash. the virus keeps attacking until the computer is no longer functional. all the antiviral drugs have been defeated by the onslaught of the spreading virus. Chain reactions can shut down entire gene networks . [They do this deliberately when making IPS cells blank].No two computers are identical, but they all can crash. systems desperately kick in to do their jobs but are hit and miss and attack the good guys too. it's chaos, so we get an antivirus fix or a new computer when it becomes too far gone. we need an anti pd drug that kills it or blocks it....if we only knew what it is. It's not early aging we have all the aging maladies too. So what can we block to protect ourselves?

changing topic slightly:
here's a page on neurotransmitters that you've probably seen before, i know madelyn has. note what they say about MAO A inhibitors causing irreversible changes whereas MAO B inhibitors cause reversible change. Can anyone explain this? trying to determine what eldepryl [selegiline] was doing to our heads.

http://www.benbest.com/science/anatm...norepinephrine

That we aren't wanting the bacterial killing power per se. In fact, the tetracyclines don't kill them (it is bacteriostatic) but has strong anti-inflammatory power.

Paula, they told you right. You have a doc help you if you try this one.

Oh thanks for your concern Rick but I have no plan to try an antibiotic; but there is that Marshall program ?? Antibiotics and low vitamin D.

I'm just trying to connect the links. And pass them on.
paula