THIS IS HUGE-- May be first drug therapy to alter progression of disease in PD
New Study- reaffirming the gut-brain connection

Quantifying rigidity of Parkinson's disease in relation to laxative treatment: a service evaluation -- British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology- -Volume 82, Issue 2;August 2016:441-450-Wiley Online Library

Conclusion from authors- "The immediate therapeutic implication is that maintenance laxatives are disease-modifying in PD. "

Facts-
Bad belly-especially constipation-worse PD symptoms
Multiple reports of antibiotics resulting in worsening PD symptoms-often irreversible


Study Specifics-Retrospective (79 patients)- London- with rigidity scores looked at approx 10 years before and 10 years after laxatives -- very strong association between beginning laxatives-- first fiber or osmotic (eg Miralex) -if not effective novel agents-- both approved in UK-Prucalopride (Resolor) and more recently Linaclotide-US too- (Linzess) and stabilization of extensor rigidity- the effect never waned

Also validated- course of antibiotics worsens PD rigidity-often irreversible

My Conclusions ( MD with PD- not a neurologist)--ask your PMD-

1) if you are constipated-make sure you treat it effectively
2) take antibiotics only when necessary


I think this is incredibly exciting!!!!



**Adding Reference Links for those interested in more information:

Wiley Online Quantifying rigidity of Parkinson's disease in relation to laxative treatment: a service evaluation - Augustin - 216 - British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology - Wiley Online Library

PubMed Quantifying rigidity of Parkinson's disease in relation to laxative treatment: a service evaluation. - PubMed - NCBI

Recently I decided to experiment with supporting my immune system with gigartina red algae(absolutely best remedy yet for shingles outbreak common to pders)...R Rogers tells the story of a relative of his who had pd that donated his body to science- when he passed and his body went to Harvard they rejected study for pd because they deemed he had hepatitis! I wonder if they just stopped at his liver and didn't bother to check out his brain (nevermind his heart)...curiously recently I am iinspired to munch on milk thistle seeds (liver cleanse) that are growing in abundance nearby....and I feel my magnesium citrate that keeps me regulalr as important to me as mucuna! thx for this schwad

my pleasure!

Very Interesting.

I remember reading articles by Kelly Del Tredici & Heiko Braak discussing gut to brain links. A friend was a techinal writer for Cell Magazine, and would edit papers for publication. I was hooked as it was fascinating. It was not a popular idea in the 1980's, but they kept publishing their research and findings.

Current article in Nature Magazine:
Pathogenesis of Parkinson disease—the gut–brain axis and environmental factors
http://www.nature.com/nrneurol/journ....2015.197.html


Oddly enough I would have never claimed to have lost my smell, but looking back for over 20 years I would "smell" things that I could visualize. Oddly enough I also would have the sense of something like roses, despite being February and none in the house.

Sometimes after I take my c/l dose, I smell a medicinal/chemical/burning, sweetish smell that can't figure out if it is real or not...kind of addicting though....I tell myself it must be brain cells disintegrating....

Eric

I have asked Dr Dobbs whether she thinks either of the two novel agents have any additional intrinsic benefit over their laxative effect-- she said that she would just use these meds if there was still evidence of constipation after the use of bulk +/- osmotic laxatives

So is it taking the laxative or controlling the constipation that is the key? In other words, if constipation can be controlled by sufficient liquids, prune juice, foods with fibre etc. rather than drugs, is that just as good? Or is it something about the medication. Obviously the novel drugs are no better than older laxatives.

And I wonder if it slowed down other symptoms as well or just rigidity? I understand that it's better to keep research as pinpointed as possible and I didn't see any mention of other symptoms in the paper.

Dr Dobbs- first author on study- emailed to that specific ?-- she said-- laxatives fro constipation only- -implying she saw no reason to use the newer agents with potential side effects without proven benefit. This is with the caveat that t his was a retrospective trial- these agents were used in the final years oof the trial-- so it doesn't mean there is no "special" effect- but there is no data to support--

sorry- i forgot to mention that the endpoint was rigidity measured by physicians-- it also correlated well with patients perception of rigidity-- but no other study endpoints in article-----

interestingly--it says when infection with the bug that causes gastritis and stomach ulcers -helicobactor pyelori-- when present-is treated-usually a prolonged course of multiple antibiotics-- hypokinesia- slowness of movements improved--- but-presumably because of the antibiotics-rigidity got worse

Hi everybody,

Just a little confused, very interesting but are we talking about symptom improvement without pd meds or laxatives resulting in a reduced need for meds if not are not the laxatives simply improving gut motility and therefore more effective drug absorption.
Sorry if Iv missed the point, fuzzy today !