Wuchang, I have not taken any kind of meds for Parkinson's or any other condition...other than aspirin. Like you and aunt bean, I am trying to avoid them. I want to try TCM approach, but it is difficult knowing how to begin. Unlike you, my diagnosis is only about nine months old, though I now know I have had Parkinson's motor symptoms for at least three years or longer. I am still working full time, though the tremor and foot dystonia are starting to pose a challenge. It is amazing to me that you and aunt bean have remained med free for so long.

I tried certain amino acids and other than L Carnitine, they made me sick. I want to try instead to get my medicine from foods and herbs, but finding a good source and knowing exactly what to take is...daunting. So far, the only supplement that I know has helped me is creatine. It has no apparent effect on my tremor, but gives me muscular strength for walking and lifting. Also, as everyone here has said, exercise helps. Based on my uncomfortable experience with amino acids, I am leery of supplements,, so I am thinking something with a long track record like TCM might be a good point of departure. I hope things go well for you.

bumping....

[QUOTE=VICTORIALOU;900542]


http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-0...parkinson.html
Powerful class of antioxidants may be potent Parkinson's treatment

"A class of antioxidants called synthetic triterpenoids blocked development of Parkinson's in an animal model that develops the disease in a handful of days, said Dr. Bobby Thomas, neuroscientist at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Health Sciences University and corresponding author of the study in the journal Antioxidants & Redox Signaling. Thomas and his colleagues were able to block the death of dopamine-producing brain cells that occurs in Parkinson's by using the drugs to bolster Nrf2, a natural antioxidant and inflammation fighter. Stressors from head trauma to insecticide exposure to simple aging increase oxidative stress and the body responds with inflammation, part of its natural repair process. "This creates an environment in your brain that is not conducive for normal function," Thomas said. "You can see the signs of oxidative damage in the brain long before the neurons actually degenerate in Parkinson's." Nrf2, the master regulator of oxidative stress and inflammation, is – inexplicably – significantly decreased early in Parkinson's. In fact, Nrf2 activity declines normally with age. "In Parkinson's patients you can clearly see a significant overload of oxidative stress, which is why we chose this target," Thomas said. "We used drugs to selectively activate Nrf2." They parsed a number of antioxidants already under study for a wide range of diseases from kidney failure to heart disease and diabetes, and found triterpenoids the most effective on Nrf2. Co-author Dr. Michael Sporn, Professor of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Medicine at Dartmouth Medical School, chemically modified the agents so they could permeate the protective blood-brain barrier. Both in human neuroblastoma and mouse brain cells they were able to document an increase in Nrf2 in response to the synthetic triterpenoids. Human dopaminergic cells are not available for research so the scientists used the human neuroblastoma cells, which are actually cancer cells that have some properties similar to neurons. Their preliminary evidence indicates the synthetic triterpenoids also increase Nrf2 activity in astrocytes, a brain cell type which nourishes neurons and hauls off some of their garbage. The drugs didn't protect brain cells in an animal where the Nrf2 gene was deleted, more proof that that Nrf2 is the drugs' target. The researchers used the powerful neurotoxin MPTP to mimic Parkinson's-like brain cell damage in a matter of days. They are now looking at the impact of synthetic triterpenoids in an animal model genetically programmed to acquire the disease more slowly, as humans do. Collaborators at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine also will be providing induced pluripotent stem cells, adult stem cells that can be coaxed into forming dopaminergic neurons, for additional drug testing."

So, personally, as a lab rat myself, and desperate, I'm not waiting for Pharma to go through their machinations before I give it a try.[/QUOT


Has anyone followed the MJFF research on the NRF2 pathway and if so what were the results? Victoria did this help you? thx

http://www.nrf2.com/michael-j-fox-fo...esearch-study/

http://www.nrf2.com/michael-j-fox-fo...nrf2-research/

from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3057757/

Triterpenoids are metabolites of isopentenyl pyrophosphate oligomers and represent the largest group of phytochemicals. It has been estimated that more than 20,000 triterpenoids exist in nature (25). They predominantly are found in various plants including sea-weeds as well as in wax-like coatings of various fruits and medicinal herbs, including apples, cranberries, figs, olives, mistletoe, lavender, oregano, rosemary and thyme (21, 26, 28–30). Triterpenoids are biosynthesized in plants by the cyclization of squalene, a triterpene hydrocarbon and precursor of all steroids (31). They can further be subclassified into diverse groups including cucurbitanes, cycloartanes, dammaranes, euphanes, friedelanes, holostanes, hopanes, isomalabaricanes, lanostanes, limonoids, lupanes, oleananes, protostanes, sqalenes, tirucallanes, ursanes and miscellaneous compounds (24, 27, 32). Although triterpenoids were considered to be biologically inactive for a long period of time, accumulating evidence on their broad spectrum pharmacological activities coupled with a low toxicity profile has sparked renewed interest with regard to human health and disease. Triterpenoids are used for medicinal purposes in many Asian countries for antiinflammatory, analgesic, antipyretic, hepatoprotective, cardiotonic, sedative and tonic effects (28, 33, 34). Recent studies have not only confirmed some of the aforementioned pharmacological properties of several triterpenoids, but also identified a variety of additional biological activities including antioxidant, antimicrobial, antiviral, antiallergic, antipruritic, antiangiogenic and spasmolytic activity (35, 36). An increasing number of triterpenoids have been reported to exhibit cytotoxicity against a variety of cancer cells without manifesting any toxicity in normal cells (24, 26, 27). They also demonstrate antitumor efficacy in preclinical animal models of cancer (26, 27). A large number of triterpenoids have been synthesized by structural modification of natural compounds for optimization of bioactivity, and some of these semi-synthetic analogs are considered to be the most potent antiinflammatory and anticarcinogenic triterpenoids known to mankind (25). The antitumor efficacy of several triterpenoids are currently being evaluated in phase I clinical trials (27).

prop


I am told that the proprietary blend is the secret to "Protandim" - that we can't just take the same ingredients and expect the same result....and Dr. Perlmutter reccommends Protandim "across the board" to all of his patients.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foTgkQ6tTx8

Wuchang..and anyone else:
For tremor....try eating pumpkin seeds...we grind them and put them on and in foods. Passionflower extract is also good for tremor if you can take it . Also, try activating your still point area on your skull...Hard to describe, but I'll try...I need to do this every morning to try to re-set things and get rid of stiffness and pain. Make 2 fists...put them under your neck and rock your head back and forth over knuckles (self-massage) working from the base of skull (under occipital bones) to just above the first bones...then let your head rest on the knuckles just above the bones. Sometimes it takes a while, but finally my eyes start to water and my body releases the tension and I am ready to start my day. If it is hard to use knuckles, put 2 tennis balls or something smaller in a sock and use that just above the low skull bone and lay on them until you feel the release. Let me know if that helps. Aunt Bean