Ibuprofen May Help Stave Off Parkinson's
 

Ibuprofen May Help Stave Off Parkinson's

Finding suggests need to look closer at the disease as inflammatory, expert says
Ellin Holohan

Business Week - Regular use of ibuprofen, a common anti-inflammatory drug, significantly lowers the risk for developing Parkinson's disease, Harvard researchers report.

People who took three or more tablets a week showed a 40 percent lower risk than those who didn't take the common pain reliever, their study found.

Study author Dr. Xiang Gao, an instructor and epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said the findings are important for anyone at increased risk for Parkinson's because most people with the disease eventually become severely disabled.

"There is thus a need for better preventive interventions," Gao said. "In this context, our findings regarding the potential neuroprotective effect of ibuprofen, one of the most commonly used analgesics, on Parkinson's disease may have important public health and clinical implications."

Parkinson's is a disease that affects nerve cells in the brain that control the movement of muscles. It affects an estimated 1 million people in the United States, men far more often than women. The exact cause is unknown, but experts believe it's a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

Gao said that though the drug levodopa is the current standard treatment for Parkinson's, much more is needed. He is scheduled to present the findings in Toronto at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in April.

The findings came from an analysis of data on 136,474 people who did not have Parkinson's at the start of the study. In a six-year span, 293 were diagnosed with the disease. Those who took the largest doses of ibuprofen were less likely to have developed Parkinson's than were those who took smaller amounts of the drug, the study found.

No other pain reliever was found to lower the risk for Parkinson's.

Dr. Michele Tagliati, an associate professor of neurology and director of the Parkinson's Disease Center at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, described the results as somewhat surprising and said they emphasized the need for further study.

"It's intriguing [that the finding applied to] just ibuprofen and not aspirin or acetaminophen or other commonly prescribed medications for inflammation because it implies something more specific to ibuprofen that should be investigated," Tagliati said. "So it narrows the focus to a subgroup of [anti-inflammatory drugs]."

Tagliati called the study "eye-opening." Parkinson's is not considered an inflammatory disease, he said, adding: "We might be missing something. There is more work to be done."

But in the meantime, Tagliati said, he would "definitely discuss ibuprofen use" with his patients because, if it works to protect against the disease, it could very well benefit those who already have it.

He cautioned that persistent use of ibuprofen can lead to gastritis, or inflammation of the stomach lining, but said that, in comparison, "there is very little to lose when measuring its side effects against the effects of Parkinson's," which can include loss of balance, stiffness, hallucinations and dementia.

ibuprofen is not a cure ...
 

http://www.drugs.com/ibuprofen.html

hello dear Max,
that was more than likely - sorry to say an advertisment from the drug makers,
message to you and your wallet- need more ibuprofen,
:rolleyes:
I still can not understand these type of staving off ideas?
coffee staves off PD?
smoking staves of PD?
http://www.physorg.com/news95354576.html
:rolleyes:

Hi Max,
I too clocked this one on several different sites, and was in two minds over it.
On the one hand I am sure there is an inflammatory component to PD, and my personal experience is that following taking an anti inflammatory drugs on occasion for things other than PD my pd symptoms have felt improved in the subsequent one or two days. However this is not specific to ibuprofen. But as a preventative........ I too was dubious about the motivation behind this article which seems to be all over the web. I am interested to hear what others think about it...... as an over the counter drug it is freely available, many people will have it in their homes, have their sales been falling - OR, is it a genuine thing. Many older people are prescribed mild anti-inflammatory drugs for a range of conditions, that they take on a regular basis, but surely this is not what they were originally licensed for........

Tena, I too do not understand the staving off stuff, how do they measure these things, I can neither find a logic to it, or see it in any other terms than the way they use words like healthy on food labelling, playing on hopes and fears.........


Lindy

dearest lindy...
 

they stave them off by the "GOLD STANDARD"
in the USA - it is the dollar
and the "Euro"... drug dealers - even like "blood money"
for they have no conscience...
The awareness of a moral or ethical aspect is missing ~

A grain of salt
 

I generally take all these studies with a grain of salt because they largely apply to people who may end up with later onset PD as a result of the aging process. None of these studies take into account variables like you are 28 years old and already have PD! Seriously, on the Young Onset sites, I "meet" chain smokers, caffeine addicts, etc. What these studies don't tell you is that if your brain is already genetically compromised then very likely none of this applies to you.

Let's see...

I have consumed coffee in very large quantities.
I have never taken up smoking, but as a baby, ate a pack of my dad's unfiltered Camel's- clearly no benefit.
As a college student, I voraciously consumed large quantities of Turmeric in the form of Indian curries.

Here we all are, in other words! Clearly the issue is more complex than the simplistic message these reports convey.

On the other hand, I have been giving some thought to adding in Ibuprofen as a treatment. One a day can't hurt and it's a he** of a lot more affordable than Coq10>

Laura

Laura, and Tena, you so make me smile!

I am a hopeless caffeine addict, but never drank coffee.

I've had plenty of turmeric, regularly, due to my south asian heritage.

I smoked like a trooper for 15 years, about ten years ago, have clear lungs and a pd head, actually I've never felt better for giving up!

I inherited two conditions from my grandmother, PD and vitiligo, she had a third. ulcerated legs, aarrghh, I am hoping to pass on that one.

Genetic compromise it is for me too......... though long-term exposure to ddt and consumption of annonaceous fruit flit through my mind too.

I lived for years on an organic wholefood vegetarian diet, we were the healthy clean living family, trying to get everything right!

None of these things has made any difference to PD, I neither feel better nor worse for stopping, starting, the medications only mask the slow path of pd, it is never not there.

Other significances - a traumatic C section, only just survived it, did it trigger PD? Menopause perhaps, maybe accelerated it. Light, sleep, and inflammation? Possibly.

But the rest? Everything, including the kitchen sink, has been thrown into the causes and conditions that trigger/prevent.......... you just have to be sceptical of nearly everything when the hungry gods of our world are trying it on! Especially like now when they seem to be showing their fangs....

Ibuprofen does a mean job of stopping pain. I wouldn't take it regularly though, long term stomach damage won't help us absorb our levodopa, or anything else........

Lindy

I am convinced that inflammation (actually activated microglia) is the main "cause" but I have serious doubts about ibuprofen. It is true that it blocks inflammatory prostaglandins. But prostaglandins block TNFa, which is the real problem. We want to inhibit the microglia that produce the TNFa. A Medline search turned up these possibilities-

Simvastatin - if you are taking a statin for cholesterol, this might be a good choice;

Minocycline - an antibiotic from the tetracycline family;

Low Dose Naltrexone - Yes, LDN.

Ginger - the common spice;

Blueberries - try the concentrate;

Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi (Chinese skullcap) - at your health food store;

Resveratrol - from the grape;

Retinoic acid - aka Vitamin A

Green tea extract - the original wonder drug;

Lovastatin - another statin;

Lycopene - from tomatoes to your health food store;

alpha-Tocopherol - Vitamin E;

Triptolide - Chinese herb at your HFS;

Vitamin D3;

Dextromethorphan - cough syrup.

Something to combining?
 

[QUOTE=reverett123;624303]I am convinced that inflammation (actually activated microglia) is the main "cause" but I have serious doubts about ibuprofen. It is true that it blocks inflammatory prostaglandins. But prostaglandins block TNFa, which is the real problem. We want to inhibit the microglia that produce the TNFa. A Medline search turned up these possibilities[\QUOTE]

Rick,

We can always count on you to give us the info we really need before we act. Thanks for this! :D

Laura

HI,

I am not a PD patient but have been encountering some severe neuroinflammation.

LOve your list but would grape seed extract fall into this category since it seems to cross the blood brain barrier?

previous discussion
 

zuchini authored this thread a whije back, discussing thus topic

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...ighlight=mobic