Dear comrades

I want to share with you the meeting i had with you with Dr Gabriel Villafane 3 weeks ago.
Dr Villafane is a brilliant and passionate scientist
,he is in charge of the Neurology department at Hopital Lionel Vidart in Creteil (France )
they have develloped since 9 years a protocol treatment for Parkinson using Nicotine patches.
They are getting very amazing results .
There,they told me,straight in the eyes,that the MINIMUM BENEFITS YOU CAN EXPECT IS TO STOP THE PROGRESSION OF PD !!
but this is the minimum,as for many patient,pd is stopped and the symptoms are very softened and even for some cases the symptoms ARE 90% REVERSED !!(it shows inversion of the disease on the DAT-SCAN)
my jaw dropped when i heard this .
this was the first time during my 7 years journey with PD ,that an "official" neurologist was not telling me PD as irreversible and degenerative .
I was really & happilly shocked

to enter the protocol,you must be on levadopa drugs .
I am on sinemet 100/10 .I take 1 pill 3 times/day presently.
you must NOT TAKE THIAMIN (vitamin B1 ) supplement ,as it would interfere with the nicotine.eating red meat is also a big No-no .
the patches have to taken everyday & for the rest of your life. (so this is not a cure but a treatment)
it takes about 9 months ti get some visible improvments,for some people less than 9 months

Here is the protocol they gave.
to respect the timing and graduality is crucial
you must patch yourself on a different part every 24 h
those parts are :under your belly button ,on the right,then the following day left,then the following day in the end of your back on the right,then the following day on left
you must change your nicotine patch every 24 h
Nicopatch was the brand recommended,but just because of the dosage

first 3 months : 3,5 mg nicotine patch per day (so you cut a 7 mg patch in half )
month 3 to 5: 7mg "" "" "
month 5 to 7 :10 mg " " "
then 14 mg for 6 months
then 17 mg for next 3 months
then 20 mg " "

I know Nicotine has a bad health image because of the cigarettes but it has medical properties.

*edit*

If you decide to consult Dr Villafane,there's 4 months waiting list,& you must come to your consultation with
-a DAT-SCAN
-recent electro cardiogram
-recent blood analysis

without these,you would have to come back & wait another 4 months
I personally have started the Nico since 2 weeks,and yes i am feeling better : )

may i ask how you are feeling better? how soon after starting did you notice an improvement?

This is awesome to hear....BUT.

We were on the nicotine patch for several years, starting with 14mg. It did really help with symptoms, yes, but we still progressed. What we found was that it started to wear off after awhile, we assumed we were building up a tolerance and needed more and more? Or burning out neurons? Don't know.

It did seem to make the "offs" much harder. But we are going to begin it again.

Search this forum as I have posted several times about the nicotine patch in the past.

Here's an idea: if this really works...I bet the tobacco companies would be more than willing to fund a trial/test. This would more than offset all the bad publicity they have gotten in the past from cigarettes IMHO, after all, you voluntarily decide whether or not you are going to smoke, at least in the beginning, but no one signs up for PD. If it really does work, this could help so many people and their families. Anyone know any bigwigs in the tobacco industry?

It would help to know more details about the protocol, such as how you do the patch with the levodopa, etc.

Seems like I remember MJF still smokes to this day, yes?

ok i felt better 5 days after starting !!!
much more energy,getting out of a chair,out of bed not a problem anymore......
All the vits & supplement ( i am following Annetta freeman's recommendations )i am taking seems to be more effective,my sinemet seems to last longer

I was surprised to feel improved that fast ,i attribute this to the fact that i am on a paleo diet,doing chi quong,taking vits .......it's a synergy

you have to follow this protocol and increase of 3,5 mg every 2 months .......until you reach 60 mg

you must be gradual (starting with a higher dosage would be counter prductive)
& place the patches on the body parts described (interesting to know is that those points ,under the belly button & end of your back are the two most important energy points in chinese acupuncture )

THIS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH SMOKING

you 're not burning neurons with nicotine intake but building new ones,
they explained me that by taking nicotine ,your body will create new nicotinic receptors ,thus new dopaminergic receptors will be created

I notice in the protocol you were given that you wear the patch 24 hours at a time before switching to another. What about sleep? When we were using the patch, we would put the patch on first thing in the morning (this was before we started sinemet) and take it off a few hours before going to bed. If we didn't, boy were we up all night long. It takes awhile to get the nicotine out of your system so that you can settle down and sleep.

If you are on the patch 24 hours a day, I don't know how you can sleep. How is this affecting your sleep, if at all? Do you find it hard to get to sleep at night? I would be really interested in hearing how this is working for you in the sleep dept., thanks.

well i am patching since only 2 weeks & was afraid about sleeping problems too
right now,i am sleeping better with vivid dreams

you have to keep your patch for 24H,they insisted on that

insomnia might occur @ higher dosage but you have to keep on as your body,after a while will get used & adjust itself

When diagnosed last summer I asked my neuro if I should give up smoking. He replied that there were studies as to possible beneficial impacts of smoking on PD, but qualified that with the obvious accompanying downsides and risks.
Is it necessary to be on medications for the nicotine patches to work ?

THE NICOTINOTHERAPIE

Dr Gabriel VILLAFANE Dr. Gabriel VILLAFAÑE

Les observations cliniques après 8 ans de traitement par nicotine transdermale chez les Clinical observations after 8 years of treatment with transdermal nicotine in
Patients parkinsoniens. PD patients.
Gabriel VILLAFANE Gabriel VILLAFAÑE
Hôpital Henri Mondor – Créteil Hospital Henri Mondor - Créteil
Hôpital Rothschild – Paris Rothschild Hospital - Paris

http://www.mondefrancoparkinson.com/...rmations3.html -

Google Gabriel VILLAFANE for this link, or load direct, you can then use translate

I wonder if the improvement in symptoms is because nicotine is a stimulant? We experienced the same improvement in symptoms on the patch as we did later, after stopping the patch, by taking the following other stimulants:

1. adderall (doc gave us a script several years ago, warning it is highly addictive psychologically, so we take half of one or even a whole one when needed, rarely) it really does help but you feel like $#!@ after it wears off

2. very strong coffee...we never drank coffee before PD but once in awhile will, if very strong (gag) it has the same effect as a nico patch or adderall

3. those five hour energy drinks (called 5 Hour Energy Drink, how creative) also really help with symptoms....but again, it wears off and then you feel worse than you would have it you hadn't had it

We really wonder if the improvement is because these are all really stimulants and they are revving you up? I dont' get that taking a nico patch somehow makes your brain grow more nicotine receptors...which in turn makes your brain grow more dopamine receptors. This doesn't work for me. Maybe someone can explain it to me to where I can get it?

The other thing: I don't know that lack of receptors is the problem in PD. I thought it was the lack of dopamine producing neurons. Having all the receptors in the world will not help us if we lack the cell that makes what the receptor binds to, right? Or no?

I would really like to see some hard data of before and after PET scans or the DAT scans mentioned, I don't really know the difference between the two but if you could actually see higher concentrations of dopamine cells in the brain once the patch treatment was started, that would be something. Thanks very much for sharing this! Perhaps I should brush on my French, oui?

[QUOTE=lurkingforacure;732144]We really wonder if the improvement is because these are all really stimulants and they are revving you up? I dont' get that taking a nico patch somehow makes your brain grow more nicotine receptors...which in turn makes your brain grow more dopamine receptors. This doesn't work for me. Maybe someone can explain it to me to where I can get it?

The other thing: I don't know that lack of receptors is the problem in PD. I thought it was the lack of dopamine producing neurons. Having all the receptors in the world will not help us if we lack the cell that makes what the receptor binds to, right? Or no?
QUOTE]

If I'm reading it correctly

http://www.macalester.edu/psychology...oholtobac.html