Thanks to CTenaLouise for the thread titled "Neurogenesis" and the article at http://seedmagazine.com/news/2006/02...p?page=all&p=y

This is the central part of what Anne Frobert and I have been working on for the last year. There is much more, but this is the heart and if you let this article about the research of Elizabeth Gould sink in you will begin to understand the cause(s) of our PD and most importantly, things we can do about it.

In a nutshell, although there are other causes that contribute, PD is a stress-induced illness. Weird stress response is not a symptom but a cause, the primary cause, in fact. And while the damage undeniably involves the nervous system, the causes are the domain of not the neurologist but the endocrinologist. And to make matters even worse, before the problem lands in the camp of neurology, it has to pass through the territory of the immunologist as well. And that is why PD has stymied science for so long. It lies at the juncture of several disciplines whose members do not communicate with one another.

Stress induces a cascade of events whose result is an increase in the level of cortisol in our system. In a normal person cortisol levels rise to a peak in the early morning and drop throughout the day. In a PWP the pattern is disrupted - the morning peak is eliminated and levels "flat line" through the day BUT at an elevated level. We have chronic high cortisol. We are in a perpetual fight or flight response. A lifetime of that takes a toll.

It can begin in the womb as the result of bacterial toxins or maternal stress hormones. It can result from stressful childhoods. It can even result from a young man's experience in a war zone because the brain remains plastic until the late teens at least.

Some of you may remember from the old BT forum that when we polled ourselves that eighty percent of us had unusually stressful childhoods. Chronic stress and a plastic brain is a dangerous combination.

As a species we are designed for acute stress. Sudden and short. We have a much harder time with chronic stress. Constant. Always there. Our fight or flight gets stuck in the on position.

You remember Daffy and I jousting about the role of soot from the Industrial Revolution in PD. I do count soot as a factor. But there was something else that came with the IR. The nature of stress changed from predominantly acute to predominantly chronic. The clock took over our lives. We had a boss looking over our shoulders. Noise. Pollution.

That kind of stress takes a toll not only on ourselves but on our offspring as well. Stress accumulates over generations! The phenomenon is called "hormonal programming." Your mom is stressed out, you are more so, and your child even more so. Carry that out over the generations and the trend is greater and greater problems.

If this is all true, then there are new avenues open to us. Anything that relaxes us is a move in the right direction. Shed the high stress job. Take up fishing. Meditate. Yoga. Tai chi. Music. Whatever works.

Then look for the things that aid repair. But if we don't deal with our stress response, then nothing works.

Forgive the Rev for preaching, but if I didn't care about you I'd just go fishing.

While I know you are talking about biochemical and structural changes within the brain, reverett, I wonder how many of us have experienced immediate, extreme stress responses? There are days I can hardly haul myself out of work with my cane (I wonder how they would take it if a government employee resorted to crawling down the marble hall to the parking garage?) anyway, 45 minutes later, laughing with friends or working in my garden, I don't even need the cane!
And yes, I've had a life and childhood with extreme stress at times.

I think you are really on to something. Thanks for sharing some of your ideas.

...this is why I am still doing ok 12 years into the disease.
I say "sod it" and laugh a lot these days.
Formerly as a perfectionist,a workaholic,an avid worrier,a pereson who didn`t know how to say NO to anyones request,someone who lined up her washing on the line with a set square...and whose hair had to look as if it had been ironed...I guess I`ve now learned how to cope with stress.
A little late but hey...I`m having a fun time right now throwing my cares to the wind.

Look like a bag lady but having a whale of a time.
x

Steffi has remarkably turned a tragedy in her life to an opportunity to make a positive change. Bless her for telling her story. Some of us were damaged so much by bad stress (rather than good stress that you get at a job in an encouraging and caring environment.) Laura is another example of someone who turned a whole life of tragedy, more than anyone I know, into a positive by creating a forum for people with PD to share their artistic side.

There are some circumstances where you just can't quite make the transition. I have recently been diagnosed with organic personality disorder which means I have poor judgement. Between bad genetics and living stressed out during my teen years non-stop due to child abuse, I just can't get as positive an attitude. Too much damage to my brain. But I can research and defend an idea and have the love of a good man.

Rick, I read Tina's posts and have a more hopeful outlook as a result. I hope that if all the tests proved positive, a no patent will be generated so all can benefit from the research you and others have been working on.

Vicky

I''m starting to really enjoy this thread. I just got home after a long day of socialization, which is always challenging. I had first a baby shower to attend and then an adult party at the same house. It was my second party attended there and people were getting to know me and get used to PD symptoms.

There was dancing all night, especially with the women. We had so much fun dancing to the oldies.

Drinking and silliness abounded. But no hostility, no demands, no judging people, lots and lots of laughter and interestingly, a protectiveness from them when I would carelessly turn around on the dance floor and lose my balance.

Baby boomers do rock; they need to relax more.

It's like stress is the only emotion acceptable. I 'd love to see some people take a personal gigantic chill. Stress may have caused PD, but this forum doesn't have to be stress.

So someone witty make an effort; should everything be brought to readers like personal home entertainment?

sorry needs its own thread. oops



paula

A few years ago I would not have had the same outlook.I have come to realise with PD that you cannot plan,you cannot assume,you cannot say how things will be in the future.It has taken me almost 12 years to shake off the "trying to fix the world and all who are in it" tag,
Believe me,I used to shoulder everyones hurts,fears,worries,anxieties and then try to deal with mine.I couoldn`t say NO to anyone so as a result Iendured serious burnout and fatigue.I was a perfectionist but achieved very little because I was too loaded with tasks to accomplish any of them successfully.
I hit the deck BIG TIME and considered all ways out of this life.
When my mum died...I wanted to go too,She was everything to me....but somehow you make it through.I had already nursed my father through a raw and ravaging illness.An orphan. Lost roots...a great gap in my life and I couldn`t imagine life without my two greatest friends.But you do make it.
And I was a primary school teacher,loved my job,loved the kids and spent many an evening weeping over those from a poor home.Having to retire at 40 years of age was another blow.Another change.
Vicky....we all have similar stories but hopefully can use this forum to uphold each other.
I don`t understand your diagnosis but would like to know more.That must be tough for you and I am sorry ..but it sounds as if you have a wonderful husband who is a tower of strength.That is precious.
Take care
x

As I was reading - the reinventing of the self.

I saw how music caused the scientist to correlate, scientific research to a Bob Dylan song - so I believe "MUSIC" to be apart of the neurogenerative
process - when people find inspiriration -
this term in latin means -spirit breathed"

so for my friend that does not have PD but reads everything I write -

here's a song of inspiration for - you~!

Bob Dylan's - thank you Bob
Tangled Up In Blue Lyrics

Early one morning the sun was shining
I was laying in bed
Wond'ring if she'd changed it all
If her hair was still red
Her folks they said our lives together
Sure was gonna be rough
They never did like Mama's homemade dress
Papa's bankbook wasn't big enough
And I was standing on the side of the road
Rain falling on my shoes
Heading out for the East Coast
Lord knows I've paid some dues getting through
Tangled up in blue.

She was married when we first meet
Soon to be divorced
I helped her out of a jam I guess
But I used a little too much force
We drove that car as far as we could
Abandoned it out West
Split it up on a dark sad night
Both agreeing it was best
She turned around to look at me
As I was walking away
I heard her say over my shoulder
"We'll meet again someday on the avenue"
Tangled up in blue.

I had a job in the great north woods
Working as a cook for a spell
But I never did like it all that much
And one day the ax just fell
So I drifted down to New Orleans
Where I happened to be employed
Working for a while on a fishing boat
Right outside of Delacroix
But all the while I was alone
The past was close behind
I seen a lot of women
But she never escaped my mind and I just grew
Tangled up in blue.

She was working in a topless place
And I stopped in for a beer
I just kept looking at her side of her face
In the spotlight so clear
And later on as the crowd thinned out
I's just about to do the same
She was standing there in back of my chair
Said to me "Don't I know your name ?"
I muttered something underneath my breath
She studied the lines on my face
I must admit I felt a little uneasy
When she bent down to tie the laces of my shoe
Tangled up in blue.

She lit a burner on the stove and offered me a pipe
"I thought you'd never say hello" she said
"You look like the silent type"
Then she opened up a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an Italian poet
From the thirteenth century
And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burning coal
Pouring off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you
Tangled up in blue

I lived with them on Montague Street
In a basement down the stairs
There was music in the caf,s at night
And revolution in the air
Then he started into dealing with slaves
And something inside of him died
She had to sell everything she owned
And froze up inside
And when finally the bottom fell out
I became withdrawn
The only thing I knew how to do
Was to keep on keeping on like a bird that flew
Tangled up in blue.

So now I'm going back again
I got to get her somehow
All the people we used to know
They're an illusion to me now
Some are mathematicians
Some are carpenter's wives
Don't know how it all got started
I don't what they're doing with their lives
But me I'm still on the road
Heading for another joint
We always did feel the same
We just saw it from a different point of view
Tangled up in Blue.

If stress was the REAL cause of Parkinson's Disease, then the most stressed of people would have Parkinson's Disease but they don't.

Persistent famines, warfare, dire poverty, lawlessness, severe malnutrition, is what the Ethiopians have to deal with, yet Ethiopians have the world's LOWEST prevalence of Parkinson's Disease.

The lowest prevalence of Parkinson's Disease in Europe is amongst the Bulgarian Gypsies yet they have the greatest amount of stress to deal with due to their high crime rates, poverty, ill health, malnutrition, and grossly inadequate healthcare and social services.

The biochemical fault that has persistently been found to coincide with Parkinson's Disease is the low levels of the enzymes required for the formation of dopamine. Stress does not affect these enzyme levels at all.

L-dopa can potently relieve symptoms of Parkinson's Disease due to its ability to form dopamine. Due to also being the precursor of adrenaline, L-dopa has the capacity to increase stress. If the theory was right L-dopa would increase symptoms, but it does the opposite.

So the claim that stress is the REAL cause of Parkinson's Disease is plainly inconsistent with the facts.

Acetylcholine increases muscle contraction. Dopamine reduces muscle contraction. Parkinson's Disease occurs when there is not enough dopamine to counter the effect of increased muscle contraction.

The reason why there appears to be a coincidence between stress and Parkinsons' Disease symptoms is that when somebody is stressed they produce adrenaline. Adrenaline increases the effect of acetylcholine and thereby temporarily increases Parkinson's Disease symptoms due to increasing muscle contraction.

So rather than stress being the cause of Parkinson's Disease, stress merely exacerbates Parkinson's Disease symptoms.

I have my doubts about your theory.If the general non P.D community was polled how many would say they had a stressful early life?Are there more cases of P.D in communities that have experienced war in the time before or after birth of a certain age group?One has to be very careful not to do what has been done by some well respected great and good pyschologists (I only know about them as child pyschology is my field) and make the facts fit the theory

remember that the average Ethiopian's life span is 40-odd years and I would guess that the gypsies have a shorter average life span too. Do you think that their incidence of PD would be more in line with the rest of the population if they lived longer??
I'd have to say ANY incidence of PD in these two groups would raise a red flag for me.

Charlie