Although I have never been a strong supporter of alternative therapies for Parkinson's, I have been reading about this detox treatment in Mexico.
I wondered if anyone had used this or does anyone know more about it?

The treatment comes from Sanoviv Medical Institute off the coast of Baja, about an hour from San Diego.

http://www.sanoviv.com/

I have heard some say that if you have a metallic taste in your mouth or don't like anything metal around your mouth, that you are full of toxins. Well, I fit this bill - it sends chills up my spine sometimes when I put a fork in my mouth (I prefer to eat with plastic utensils). It's a good thing I didn't have to wear braces on my teeth when growing up

Am I weird or what?

My humble opinion. First, we are all full of toxins, that is what the liver and kidneys do for us, they break down and remove toxins. Untill the 18th century, these toxins were all from the natural breakdown of foodstuffs, and natural foodstuffs can contain many , many, toxins in themselves.
To have any greater degree of "toxins" in our modern world, would be from an abnormal exposure to synthetic toxins which are used in many jobs where workers are exposed to these materials. Thus you and most people are not exposed to abnormally high amounts of toxins. Now, one can have a natural allergic response to very small amounts of both natural and synthetic toxins, but identification of these conditions takes a well trained toxicologist a lot of time to figure out these "mysteries". Anything other than the obvious, from asking the patient a battery of questons and performing a series of body fluid or biopsy tests of a specific nature, is the only way to reveal abnormal buildup or allergic reactions to only a tiny number of things which could be responsible for ones "malaise" due to " toxic interactions". The body is so complex, and biochemical abnormalities so at times mysterious that not even a large team of the best toxicologists working on you, may come up with something of an answer, and then perhaps no way of a "treatment" to correct the situation.
These "alternative approaches to healing" are in my opinion, just organizations set up to make the patient feel as comfortable as possible, with a large dose of placebo interogation. If there methods truly worked, they would enter into mainstream medical practices.
I am a doubting THomas, yes, but I still do believe that there exists some degree of as yet unexplained ability of the body to protect and heal itself, based on evolutionary guided mechanisms, that ALL "doctors" are unaware of.
Now put yourself in an environment where you don't have to deal with the stress and strains of being alive. Some other person does the wash, the cooking, pays the bills, and make sure that you are in an environment that is so nice that it is literally "the comfort of Royalty". I'll bet that ANYBODY, under these conditions will feel much better, even to the point of exclaiming that they are "cured" of their disease. But that's not really the truth. If you don't have infinite resources to maintain the comforts that they provide, when you get back to your salt mine, and resume your role as the mule, that most of us commoers are, then those ugly symptoms are most likely to return, often with a vengeance.
I feel that you are entering the "Desperate" stage of the chronic diseases. This is when you feel that you can't possibly cope any longer. The only "cure for this is to be put on some "medication cocktail" of drugs that you haven't tried yet. And that takes time and money too.
Desparation; it puts you in bed. it makes you cry, it takes away yet more from you. The only way out is in a box; well, not quite yet. It's at this point that something must be done to prevent further acceleration in a downhill slide. Often , because of various reasons, we are not allowed to try tried and true "feelgood" medication. You know what I'm talking about.
There are many of us here who would gladly trade a few years more of miserable life, for taking drugs which may have toxicities of their own at high doses.
Well, if you can afford it, try one of these "clinics"; you'll probably feel better while you are there, but nothing stops our disease from advancing. Like cancer patients, we should be given the option of being "kept comfortable" untill our time comes, but as I said , that's not usually an option.
The metallic taste, I'm sure taht there is a medical term for this condition, but i also am sure that it does not mean that you are "full of toxins". I could go on, but my fingers say no. Peace to you always, and may your God lift up your heart . cs

ol'c's quoted:
put yourself in an environment where you don't have to deal with the stress and strains of being alive. Some other person does the wash, the cooking, pays the bills, and make sure that you are in an environment that is so nice that it is literally "the comfort of Royalty". I'll bet that ANYBODY, under these conditions will feel much better, even to the point of exclaiming that they are "cured" of their disease.

Let me think . . . do you think we could find such an environment in a heated igloo someowhere in the middle of the tundra? Nah - the cell phones probably still work there.

Thanks for your keep insight, ol'c's - I believe you are both practical and scientifically astute in what y ou say. I do feel as ifi I am grasdping for straws about my advancing PD. For 7 years I have not only stood still, but actually reversed some of my symptoms. Iihave to believe this is due to the experimental suregery I had (Spheramine - retinal cell transplants). Phase I of the clinical trials concluded with a nearly 50% improvement over baseline for those involved. However, that was only 6 people, and the surgery was only done on one side of the brain. Phase II is still recruiting in Phase II, and it is being done on both sides of the brain.

No, it's not placebo effect with me, and if the results come back that way, then there is something terribly wrong with the evaluation system. I had major balance issues and spent 75% of my time "off" prior to surgery. I still have days when I return to an invalid, but it's short-lived and was almost nonexistant for 7 years. But here's the clincher - when I go "off" (really off - such as in the mornings), I have the infamous freezing periods AND the side that did NOT have the transplants is visably worse (extreme rigidity and toes clenched and curled under). I may be wrong, but I think there is potential for Spheramine.

In the interim, I look for therapies to relieve my "off dystonia." I writhe in pain until the meds kick in. Then if I can tolerate the 20-30 minutes of dyskinesia, there is a period of euphoria - people cannot tell that I have PD. Oh to have a smooth transition into the on/off thing.

Thanks for your honest opinion. I also believe that if we "want" something to work, then to a degree it will.

Peg

No one knows that nothing stops the disease from progressing, and how will we find out if we don't look.

I talked with a women who had PD for 16 years and she claims that through changeing her diet to follow that of the Seventh Day Adventist cured her in a years time. Who knows, maybe she nuts, maybe her faith the brought her, maybe it was diet.

I get through day sometimes on hope alone, hope in some relief or treatment. I get tired of the idea that only in death will a be relieved of PD. The persuit of these sources of hope often distracts me from the B.S. that is PD and provides some medication free relief.

I don't support blindly persuing alternate therapy. When your ready to make that leap, make sure backed by some solid research.

If you think it's safe and a worthy risk, I say go for it. (And don't forget to talk to your Doctor)

Robert

Eeks! I just saw all those typos in my last reply. I'm not going back to edit them.

So true Robert - I have always said hope stands for "HELP OBLITERATE PARKINSON'S EVERYWHERE!!! - or the E could represent "expeditiously.")

If we give up hope, we give up on life and ourselves. Thanks for the reminder.

Peggy