Originally Posted by Conductor71

First, I'd like to send a warm welcome to all of our new members! I have noticed several new names lately, and the more, the better. We end up enriched by new insights and information, so please do not ever be afraid to post.

To Krugen and Tulip Girl,

Too funny. Actually, thanks are due to both of you. Both of you are a breath of fresh air here. Tulip Girl, thanks for telling the forum like it is. I send people here because of the amazing amount of knowledge and for the advocacy but always add a disclaimer that it is "not a place for warm, fuzzies." I took a deep breath and started posting in July of last year and haven't stopped since, though I'm sure I've taken my foot out of my mouth on at least three occasions.

Quite honestly, I tend to under-utilize the "thanks" button because I'd rather say it with three paragraphs instead of two words. I could say that I feel slighted because I did reply to your post about prolactin and while a little tangential, I am always interested to hear how pregnancy has impacted one's PD. Yet, you only see that someone replied to your juicer question
(BTW, I have a Juice Master) Just kidding on this, but you get my point.

Anyway, don't be intimidated. I felt the same way you did for a short while, but eventually you get over that and feel more a sense of urgency to share any new info you might stumble upon. I think it does take great pluck to post here, and I am already blown away by how much you know about PD! If it weren't for the information and experiences shared here I would be a lost soul with this diagnosis. It is the only place that empowers us to remain even in the slightest sense control over this disorder.

Krugen, I was hoping you would start a brain fog post, looks like I may just have to do it.

To all our newbies, please continue to write and start new threads. We all need each other!

Laura

Originally Posted by reverett123

The only way that those numbers will have value is as a measure of relative rather than absolute improvement. If we try hard to compare near-identical conditions in the same rat with the variable being substance "X" and we find a significant change, that flags it for a closer look.

It is not a blinded trial and is not intended to be. It plays to our strengths - namely that we can be sloppy but still act as a fast way of identifying places for "real" scientists to look. If "X" cuts my time to first on by 25%, that might inspire another rat to try the same and they might report 50%, and another 10% etc. If ten rats report improvement but they are all over the map, that's great. We did something positive instead of twiddllng our thumbs.

I'm going to try one just as a test of this approach. I have here a bottle of Melissa officiallis (lemon balm). Brand is Nature's Way and it contains 490 mg per capsule. It has a long tradition as a remedy for stress and there are even a few human trials on PubMed - all positive. Reccomended dosage is three caps per day so I'll start there. I will take the first with my first meds, the second at noon, and the third at 3:00 PM

I'll use this morning as my baseline. I slept reasonably well, got up about 5AM, came on in one hour, but began to falter after about an hour and a half (which got me to thnking about this). During that time I had a boiled egg and a rice cake with peanut butter and a cup of coffee. A typical morning for me. I will try to reproduce those conditions anytime I gather new measurements.

In theory, if I see improvement in those numbers, then it is worth trying to refine the experiment in some way.

Hey,it keeps me off the streets!

Originally Posted by tulip girl

Thank you Laura and Jean for your responses to my cheeky post. I knew that there are warm, caring folks out there, not just "search engines". My modus operandi is to acknowledge posters, simply by saying THANKS, or contributing to the discussion, or even to clash with the ideas presented. Jean writes "Lots of us post and get no response, so don't take it personally if it happens to you. " While I have seen this as true, I also see this as a deterrent. Why post your ideas, information when you are likely not to get a response or even a "thanks". This is , afterall, a COMMUNICATION BOARD. I'd prefer a "you are full of #$%t and don't know what you are talking about" then utter silence. I really enjoyed my running discussion with Ron on Dopamine crossing the BBB and freezing.......and Laura, I was encouraged with your interest in prolactin/pregnancy and did respond to you. ( BTW - do you recommend your Juice Master?) So, I encourage all those who lurk these waters to join in, PhD's welcome but certanly not a requirement.

Krugen - haha "putting on your BIG girl panties" means being unafraid to step up to the plate. (I don't own big bloomers.) It goes along with "Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit" an expression of surprise. I love British humor

OK, Reverett, I started my documentation of my ADL (activites of daily living) in connection to ON/OFF times for your "experiment" Not taken no lemon balm - it wasn't in the original, non scientific method investigation plan....uuuum

TG

Originally Posted by reverett123

TG- my apologies for ignoring you as well as others. I've not been at my best the last few weeks and it is hard to maintain my usual cheerful demeanor.

I wasn't so much intending to do a trial of lemon balm as I was trying to come up with some means of measuring any responses. It has become clear to me that the cavalry is not going to come over the hill in time for me, so if I'm going to escape it is going to be my doing. I fear that the word "our" could be substituted for most of us.

BTW, the lemon balm gave me a very good morning (the best in several weeks) but then dropped me flat for a couple of hours in early afternoon. Typical.

Originally Posted by tulip girl

Reverett123, there is no need to apologize - we are all in the same s(t)inking boat, bailing as fast as we can. I truely believe that attitude, using nutritional food instead of expensive supplements, and DAILY EXERCISE is critical to our well being along with a touch (or a heaping spoonfull of humor). Grasping at straws only adds more stress and financial burden to our lives. It really shook me up to read the post by Madamlesh that she obtained cardiac dopamine and injected herself with it. It is amazing that she lived to tell about it. Some times you just have to boot PD out your back door while you stand in your front door and smell the fresh air and look ahead instead of behind you. Okay, enuff of waxing poetic. Take care of yourself and give PD a toss.

TG

Originally Posted by lurkingforacure

Tulip Girl,

Have you experienced a difference between using nutritional food vs. supplements? I am very curious about this and of course lean towards the food myself, just wanted to know if you'd already tried both and gotten different results....and what those differences were, thanks.

Originally Posted by tulip girl

This board needs to lighten up. It is very intimidating to post here, as a newbie, very few take the time to respond to me, I enjoy the stimulating and thought provoking topics but most of the time I feel like I am talking to myself. On another thread I asked a question about a juicer and I got a very ccomprehensive reply but that person expressed discomfort talking about an "off topic" - nutrition is very high on my list of taking care of myself as a PWP. Pontification seems to be the norm here

I double dog dare anyone to click on the thanks
I may be only a JUNIOR MEMBER having passed the vetting of my earlier posts to see if they (I) were worthy but I got my BIG girl panties on and I aim to be heard.

Tulip Girl

Originally Posted by Sasha

Thanks for putting into words my thoughts about posting on this board!!!! It has seemed like I have an uncanny ability for bringing threads to an end - I would post on an active thread and be met by...silence. No one would respond. This happened so many times (not every time, to be sure, but many) that I was starting to add "paranoia" to my symptom list! I was thinking I'm either stupid and not worth responding to or I'm offending people (always a possibility when there is no ready feedback mechanism) or only certain people are welcome to post here... Maybe it is not as personal as all that!

Thanks for breaking the silence!!

Sasha