At 13:56 08/02/97 -0500, you wrote:

>Has anyone been taking oxygen for other conditions and found that it
>affected their parkinson symptoms.
>
>Her pulmonary shunt has meant that a considerable percentage of her blood
>had not been oxygenated. My suspicion is that this increase in "toxicity" in
>her blood would be comparable to the many cases of environmental toxicity
>that others have reported. However her cardiologist and neurologist think
>that her pulmonary vascular problems are totall unrelated to her parkisons.
>I am not convinced.
>Jules

Hello Jules,

Your message about oxygenation of the blood was most interesting.  It
prompts me to give an account of a problem we identified with carbon
monoxide some time ago.  Carbon monoxide binds to iron in the blood pigment
haemoglobin, preventing the uptake of oxygen and is therefore relevant to
your observations.

I apologise for the long post, but it is relevant to PD.


In Dec 1995, we had friends come for a meal and followed the meal by a trip
out to the theatre.

On our return we were surprised and worried to find that a Carbon Monoxide
detector in our LOUNGE was sounding a warning that Carbon Monoxide (CM for
short from now on) had been detected.  We suspected our gas central heating
boiler which was the only source of CM alight and switched it off, and
thoroughly ventilated the house.  We suspected the CM detector was faulty
because it was difficult to see how a gas boiler in a different part of the
house would produce CM in the LOUNGE.

The following day we had the Gas Co. visit and check our appliance, the
boiler and our Gas cooker.  Both were deemed to be burning and functioning
correctly although the gas fitter did not have a CM detector, because,
"These were highly specialised, expensive and needed regular calibration".

We contacted the distributers of the CM detector (First Alert) who suggested
I send them the sensor for analysis.  I did this and within 48hrs they
phoned me to state CM traces HAD been found on the sensor.

I then hired a highly accurate (expensive) calibrated CM meter from a
specialist company and proceeded to take measurements.

You may already know this, but CM is measured in parts per million (ppm) and
the danger from exposure to it is a function of both LEVEL of CM and
DURATION of exposure.  In other words even quite high levels can be
tolerated for very short periods but lower levels can still be dangerous if
exposure to them is over long periods of time.  Remember that CM is
invisible and odourless and therefore can only be detected and measured by
instruments.

Background levels in a home are around 1ppm to 5ppm.

I first checked the house without appliances alight, READING: 1ppm.

Checked the boiler and around it, no increase on 1ppm.

Lit the gas oven, level in kitchen increased only slightly to 2ppm.

Lit the gas rings, still only around 2ppm.

Tried the gas grill, WHAM.... Up went the levels which peaked at 95ppm
within a few minutes. Using the extractor fan reduced the figure by about
half but it was still at an unacceptably high level of about 45-50ppm.

I then experimented and found that placing a kettle filled with cold water
on the gas to boil, produced similar high levels.
This made scientific sense as CM is released when there is incomplete
combustion of carbon fuel and, because the gas flame reduces in temperature
when passing through a cold surface, it does not burn so well.

After I was diagnosed, the PD accelerated and until my wife retired I spent
some time alone at home.  In this period during which I became gradually
worse, I used to make a drink and breakfast in the kitchen and sit in there
longer than had previously been my habit.

95ppm is not sufficient to make a person ill over a short period of time but
what about over a longer period of time?

The most startling thing of the lot was this.  After spending a little time
in the kitchen taking these readings and shouting them out to my wife in the
next room to note them, I ventilated and left the kitchen to go and write
down my findings properly.

I COULD NOT!  I COULD NOT WRITE.  I COULD NOT SIGN MY NAME ONCE and in
trying to write numbers 1 till 10, COULD NOT GET PAST 2.

This was early in my illness, when I was still on Eldepryl, and I had never
till that moment had a freezing episode on writing.

I gradually recovered until back to normal about one hour later.

Repeated the experiment.  SAME RESULTS!

We changed the Gas cooker, we now use an electric kettle instead of the gas
one, we use an electric toaster not the Gas grill for toast, and always have
the extractor fan on BEFORE we start cooking.

Tips for reducing CM with gas cookers besides servicing them:

1.  When boiling water in a kettle or pan, reduce the flames so that the
TIPS of the flames play the pan bottom not the middle cone of the flames.

2.. When using grills, do not turn the flames higher than necessary.  The
flames on a grill generally curve upwards towards the cold metal.  This
reduces the temperature of the flames and produces CM.

3.  The colder the surface that the flame plays on, the more CM is produced.
As the pan and contents heat up, the CM given off reduces.  Thus the most CM
given off is IN THE FIRST FEW MINUTES.  Therefore, reach for the "extractor
fan switch" or window, BEFORE you start cooking.

4.  Play safe if you can, use elecric toasters and kettles if possible.
Check all combustibles and ventilation.

Incidentally, I got back to First Alert about grills etc and the executive
in charge of the trouble shooting team said he found gas grills a common
high source of CM in homes.

I accounted for the triggering of the detector alarm by the fact that my
wife had cooked the dinner meal for the 4 of us and we had closed up and
gone out not too long afterwards, thus not allowing the usual time for the
CM to clear.  The First Alert detector works on CM level and DURATION of
exposure.

These are my thoughts as I think them:  Was CM a contributory cause over the
years?  If not, is it just that us PDers are more susceptible to CM because
of the reduction in available oxygen?  Is it a combination?  I do not know.
It is food for thought though, because many of you have mentioned carbon
monoxide and oxygen uptake as having an affect on PD symptoms.






Ernie Peters <[log in to unmask]>