Hi, my 85 yr old father has Parkinsons. He takes Levodopa regularly but is deteriorating. Of late he has started having double vision, he has movement disorder (freezing) and speech difficulties. Conventional medicine seems to be limited at present.
I was wondering if anyone here has tried PEMF therapy for Parkinsons?
I found a positive review here:
http://somapulse.com/testimonials/parkinson/

And also several reviews (video mostly) of PEMF that it may help
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z72oYr9zD4w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25-j5RiNfv0

Any advice or insight would be appreciated.

Dear Akash,

First, I'm very sorry to hear that your father has been having difficulties lately. Let me share a small amount of knowledge that I have picked up about PEMF and Parkinson's disease.

I have looked into PEMF for my mom (68 years old, diagnosed with PD in 2010). We had a consultation with a well-known doctor who treats people with PEMF and sells PEMF devices. He recommended one for my mom that she would apply directly to her head. The doctor was nice and knowledgeable but he didn't have a large body of success stories, so we did not purchase that device, also because it was so expensive.

My mom rented a PEMF mat for two months to try it out. This wasn't what the doctor had recommended, but another person had told us that PD patients can get benefit from using a full-body mat. Her experience was very mixed. It seemed to help her for a couple days, and then it actually seemed to make her worse, in that she could not get her Sinemet to kick in and was getting less and less reliable "on" time. So she decided to discontinue using it.

In addition to PEMF, there are other magnet or electricity based treatments called rTMS (repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation) and some other acronym that stands for transcranial direct stimulation. rTMS is FDA approved for persistent depression, and some doctors are using it on PD experimentally. There is one in Florida who has treated some PD patients.

(Let me add the caveat that I definitely do not have a science background. If other members who are more scientifically inclined want to weigh in and correct me, that would be most welcome.)

My mom and I were sort of interested in the rTMS option, but it is in Florida and she is in Pennsylvania, so it would take a little bit of planning (not to mention some $) to pull that off. The rTMS for Parkinson's consists of about 20 treatments (maybe more?) spaced closely together.

If you google rTMS and PD, you will find some studies showing that it helped, and some showing that it didn't.

Feel free to message me if you'd like more information (not that I have all that much). In the meantime, best wishes to you and your Dad.

Elizabeth

Thank you Elizabeth. I have recently purchased a PEMFS device the same as above, to use myself since I suffer from TOS. I was wondering whether it could help my dad but there is very little to go on...

I believe you spoke to Dr Pawluk? I took his advice as well. But for my own issue..not Parkinsons. I have,...

Basically nerve pain and muscular issues thanks to trauma induced fibrosis. Hopefully it will help. I would like to use it for my father but there is a risk involved. He currently uses a very mild 1Gauss device but can't say it has helped much. Seems to have kept him alert, but his moot issues,

Was the full body mat the low power iMRS or Bemer.?

I will read more and message you. Thank you for your time in getting me that detailed and thoughtful reply. My own health issues have meant I have not spent enough time (I feel) in exploring methods to help my dad's stuff but it seems PD or anything complex is a tough nut for current medical science to crack.

Thanks again

Hi Akash --- My mom used an iMRS mat, but the experience was probably more negative than positive.

Good luck with your research. Feel free to be in touch if you have more questions.

Thanks rainbow. What I really dislike about iMRS is their multi level marketing and huge prices as a result.