Sorry everyone for the lengthy message with the Hazardous Waste conference
info.  I didn't realize it would be that long, but since I was also including
other articles, it added up to a huge message.  On the applicability of
Hazardous/Toxis waste discussion to PD, however, I strongly disagree.  As we
all know, there is a growing belief that PD may have many environmental
factors, many of which are likely related to human created toxins.  I have
read in two sources, one a scientific book on the brain and its
neurotransmitters, and one by NYU Medical Center about staying healthy in a
risky environment, that the drug MTPT, which caused the PD in alot of young
people when their home brewed version actually turned out to be MTPP, a very
toxic chemical.  MTPT is chemically similar to Demerol, but MTPP is chemically
similar to a number of toxic substances, including paraquat (an
herbicide/pesticide).  The body somehow breaks down the MTPP into MTP+ via the
enzyme MAO B.  MTP+ is water soluble, and can remain in the body for some time
and accumulate to toxic levels.  I don't remember the details, but
neuromelatonin plays a part in the drama somehow, as does peroxide, which is
created in the process, and has something to do with penetrating the cell
barrier and causing/playing a part in the cell death.  Eldepryl and other MAO
B inhibitors work to somehow prevent the conversion of MTPP to MTP+ by the MAO
B and thus interfere with the toxic reactions.  Other  toxic substances which
are chemcially similar to MTPP are also being tested on animals to assess
whether they cause the same damage by the same mechanisms, but supposedly some
are so toxic the animals die before the targeted brain cell death occurs.
 
I personally had a severe reaction to compazine, given to me for nausea. In
actuality, it is primarily a anti-depressant/anti-psychotic drug, and that
whole class of drugs is known to cause PD-like symptoms in some people (like
me, and I also now have PD).  In the Johns Hopkins drug reference guide that
my parents have it describes this phenomena, and also at the very end of the
reference states the effect is typically temporary and disappears when the
drug is discontinued (I was given some sort of "antidote"), but it does say
that for a few people, even one dose can cause future reoccurrences, (i.e., it
may remain in the body much the same as the MTPP does. LSD also remains in the
body of some people for years afterward and they may have recurring "trips"
that keep happening).  I believe for myself, altho' each person will be unique
in the combination of factors which caused it for them, that the compazine
played a significant role, and perhaps subsequent exposure to pesticides or
other MTPP-like substances added to the damage (I moved to NJ 7 years ago, and
this has all started since.  The area in which I live is quite nice, but there
is alot of farming (pesticides), alot of spraying of pesticides in the
apartment/condo complexes, and also ALOT of hazardous waste in the state as a
whole.)  Many of the topics being discussed at this conference are to do with
the effect of toxins, including pesticides, on humans.  I personally can't get
to Atlanta for this conference, but someone living in that area might be
interested, hence my posting of the info.  I agree, I probably should have cut
it down a bit, and I apologize for the info overload.  I strongly feel,
however, especially since I am 31, and have had these symptoms for at least 5
years that I can recall, there is definitely something wrong here.  I should
not have this stupid disease and I am certainly not going to accept a gloom &
doom fate.  If it is something in the environment, or something I have taken
in, I can then try to avoid it as much as possible, try some of the existing
detox methods, and then also fight for more environmental legislation and more
public awareness of the potential dangers of drugs which they are prescribed.
I was in college when I took the compazine, and was too naive at the time to
even think of the possibility of such long-term effects from a "nausea" drug.
Even tho' one of its uses is for nausea, as stated in the drug reference, I
see no reason for prescribing an anti-psychotic drug for that purpose. Due to
its possible side effects, I think it should never be given to someone who may
have a family history of PD (I may have this history in both grandfather and
greatgrandfather, altho' I don't think either were formally diagnosed, they
assumed the tremor was old age probably, and it may have been).   I very much
intend on calling every government or private agency that deals with
environmental effects on health, etc., as well as pharmaceutical
organizations, etc, to see what if anything has been documented about exposure
to drugs or toxins and diseases like PD.  Sorry if I seem a little
belligerent, but the thought of something this stupid, i.e. 2-3 doses of a
drug, screwing up the rest of my life really makes me mad, and it scares me
that I may be surrounded every day by totally unnecessary chemicals doing God
know what to my health.  Even if they do not really contribute to PD (which I
doubt), they are meant to kill life, and altho' it may be just insects they
are directed at, eventually this sort of thing makes its way up the food
chain, the top of which we are at, so we receive the benefit of incredible
build up of these chemicals and there has to be some effect.  I watched a show
recently on TV about the environment and man's belief, especially back in the
50's, etc., that they could do better than nature.  They decided to "clean up"
a Georgia town of (possible disease carrying) pests using DDT.  And did they
ever clean up.  Not only were trash cans sprayed, but also cars, doorways,
even the entire bodies of cows coming out of a paddock.  Insects and rodents
do carry disease, but substituting one causative agent for another is an
exercise in ignorance, if not arrogoance.
 
Well, again my message has grown rather lengthy, so it is probably time to
quit while I'm ahead.  My frustration is not directed at anyone in particular,
and especially not to those who might agree with the comment about the
conference info.  It is just at the whole, possibly avoidable, situation in
which I find myself.  My personal focus in dealing with this disease, at least
for now while it remains relatively minor in severity, is to fight it at its
source.  Perhaps one day, besides having very effective ways of dealing with
it once it is present and thus giving the victims who've already got it a
normal lifespan and quality of life, we can ensure that hopefully no  one will
ever have to deal with it in the first place, or at the very least, that
number can be kept to a minimum.  I've been writing a poem about my feeling
regarding the pesticides, which I may forward to this list eventually.   Wendy