Ron Hutton: If you're stopping breathing at all, you need to get a sleep study. Don't put it off. Do it now. I've been on a machine that assists my breathing for almost two years. It really does make a difference--both for you and your sleeping partner. My wife said she could never get a good night's sleep because she was always worrying about me stopping breathing. You are welcome to PM me about this. There's also a sleep apnea forum on this site that I also visit occasionally.

StevePocetaMD: I don't know if there's a direct link between sleep apnea and PD. I was referring to reduced oxygenation of the blood that can be caused by sleep apnea. Every cell in the body needs oxygen so it seems reasonable that some may suffer if subjected to reduced oxygen. Then there's genetics. Both my father and my paternal grandfather had neural disorders that started in their fifties. So, do you think that a genetic predisposition and hypoxia together could have led to problems with my dopamine-producing cells?

Heidi: Thanks for the link. Your posts are always interesting.

That's a possibility, because I'm not the typical obstructive sleep apnea patient. I'm not overweight, for example. I also have some episodes of central sleep apnea. That is, I sometimes stop breathing while I'm awake. This hasn't bothered me much since I've been on sinemet full-time. Interesting.

I still use a continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) machine to keep me breathing during sleep. It's actually a wonderful device--simple and effective, once one gets used to it. I sometimes use it during the day when I have a headache because it actually helps.

Karl

HO is what they use when a diver gets the bends. Only eight studies on medline.


1: Zh Nevropatol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova. 1989;89(10):38-40.

[Hyperbaric oxygenation in the complex treatment of Parkinson disease]

[Article in Russian]

Neretin VIa, Lobov MA, Kotov SV, Cheskidova GF, Molchanova GS.

Hyperbaric oxygenation (HBO) was used for the treatment of 64 patients suffering
from parkinsonism of different etiology. HBO sessions were provided daily, 8-12
per course, the treatment pressure amounted to 1.3-2 atm exposure to 40-60
minutes. The beneficial effect was marked in 55 patients. The results of the
treatment turned out better in vascular parkinsonism, in patients under 65 years,
with a disease standing of 1-5 years. The akineticorigid syndrome regressed to a
greater degree, whereas in trembling hyperkinesis, HBO turned out to be less
potent.

PMID: 2618228 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Hyperbaric oxygen reduces blood-brain barrier damage and edema after transient focal cerebral ischemia.

Hi Heidi L and Karl,
Thanks for your concern over my sleep apnea, I am sure you are right, and I will see my Doc. I have hesitated since I seem to be always seeing him over one problem or another. I have problems raising my left arm after a fall a year ago, I had the falling into the greenhouse episode a few months ago, now my right knee seems to be cracked or chipped, and I am in agony when I put weight on it. Sleep apnea seemed low in the priorities!!!
Heidi L,
Yes, you are right also when you say isn't hypoxia associated with BBB damage. See
http://davislab.med.arizona.edu/currenthypoxia.htm

Effects of Hypoxia/Reoxygenation on the Blood Brain Barrier
Stroke is the leading cause of death and long-term disability in the United States, yet little is understood regarding how an ischemic event induces a breakdown and increased permeability of the blood brain barrier (BBB). Although hypoxia associated with stroke has been reported to cause increased BBB permeability, effects of re-oxygenation on brain endothelial cells following a hypoxic insult remain unclear. We are currently investigating the effect of hypoxia and reoxygenation on junctional and cytoskeletal proteins.
Ron

I agree that shallow breathing / apnea / etc. is a symptom rather than cause of PD.

I don't have apnea, but I am aware that I frequently hold my breath. I am told this is not only PD related but also anxiety related.

My attempt to deal with this starts on Tuesday when I begin Kripalu yoga classes that emphasize meditation, breathing, and relaxation in connection with yoga poses. I am doing this at the urging of my doctor, a noted movement disorder specialist.

Swimming is also helping me with regulating my breathing.

Seems dealing with PD keeps coming back always and all ways with restoring balance in your mind, body, and life.

Yep. I've pretty much reached that conclusion as well. Perhaps part of the challenge is that it is a different "balance" than we knew in the days before PD became a big part of our lives. I sometimes feel that the more I fight it, the worse I feel.

Karl

Karl - I agree. I'm learning that less is more with PD; managing stress and coming to terms with my desire to remain as "normal" as possible in the face of abnormality have been my greatest challenges. The more that I accept the new reality, the more comfortable I feel.

I don't think acceptance is the opposite of fighting back - I think it is one way to fight back effectively and efficiently. One neuropsychologist I saw described a PET scan of a man who had been brain damaged in an accident that had destroyed the tiny part of his brain that controlled tying his shoes. He was determined to learn to tie them again, and finally accomplished the task. A new PET scan revealed that now it took practically the whole brain working to do something that only required a small portion before.

I say, why not just wear slip-ons?

We need to put our limited energy into doing what is important for each of us to retain our dignity and good quality of life; that can differ widely. Improving your breathing might be one fairly simple thing that many of us can do to give us an additional boost of good health.

{Hypoxia / hypoxemia is a condition in which there is an inadequate supply of oxygen in the blood.}

"It is suggested that hypoxia may
be a potential clinical tool to treat Parkinson's disease."!!

Hypoxia promotes the differentiation of neural stem cells into dopaminergic neurons

T Zhao, CP Zhang, LL Zhu, B Jin, X Huang, M Fan - Sheng Li Xue Bao, 2007 - ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Sheng Li Xue Bao. 2007 Jun 25;59(3):273-7

"DA content in the supernatant of culture medium in hypoxia group increased significantly, about twice of that in normoxia group (P<0.05, n=8). The results demonstrate that hypoxia (3% O2) promotes the differentiation of NSCs into neurons, especially dopaminergic neurons. It is suggested that hypoxia may be a potential clinical tool to treat"

ABSTRACT:

Neural stem cells (NSCs) are multipotent and widely used in many research fields such as transplantation. Hypoxia not only improves the proliferation of various stem cells in vitro but also plays an important role in the differentiation of stem cells. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of hypoxia on the differentiation of NSCs. NSCs were isolated from the midbrain of embryonic Wistar rats (E13.5d), and cultured in serum-free DMEM/F12 medium (containing 20 ng/mL EGF, 20 ng/mL bFGF, 1% N2 and B27). The neurospheres were passaged every 3-5 d, and the third generation of NSCs was used for the following experiments. NSCs were induced under normoxia (20% O2) and hypoxia (3% O2), respectively, for 3 d, and then differentiated under normoxia for 5-7 d (DMEM/F12 medium containing 1% FBS, N2 and B27). Immunohistochemistry of nestin, NeuN and TH was used for NSC identification and differentiation assay. The number of TH-positive cells was evaluated by flow cytometry. Dopamine (DA) content in the supernatant of culture medium was detected by HPLC. The results showed that NSCs could self-renew and were all nestin-positive. NSCs under hypoxic condition differentiated more neurons than those under normoxic condition. The percentage of TH-positive cells differentiated from NSCs under normoxia and hypoxia was (10.25+/-1.03) % and (19.88+/-1.44) %, respectively.

In addition, DA content in the supernatant of culture medium in hypoxia group increased significantly, about twice of that in normoxia group (P<0.05, n=8). The results demonstrate that hypoxia (3% O2) promotes the differentiation of NSCs into neurons, especially dopaminergic neurons. It is suggested that hypoxia may be a potential clinical tool to treat Parkinson's disease.

Does this mean that the answer is simply to stop breathing?

If this were true, then the many years when my sleep apnea was untreated should have prevented PD or limited it's progression. Excuse me while I think for a minute...

My PD symptoms have been with me for many years. As I noted when I started this thread, some of the symptoms have bothered me for more than fifteen years--it had been a very slow progression. However, in the last year or so, and especially in the last six months, the progression of the disease seems to have increased. This increase in the rate of progression overlaps the period of time that I have been using my CPAP machine, which prevents hypoxia.

PD is indeed a very strange thing. Even though I think this is very strange, I'll take a risk and click "Submit Reply" anyway. Please excuse my rambling thoughts.

Karl