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(From:  Janet) This is just various & sundry, any & everythings related to
PD in general and "my cause" of PD - allergens.  (These are MY opinions & I'm nobody
in particular).  There is no order to this, just completely random
ramblings-Pondering on paper...(or computer)..Anyway, I WARNED you, and it
is LONG!!

-I appreciated James Slattery's post regarding accidental discoveries  -
Even I am capable of having an accident!  (I've proved THAT well enough).

- Wonder if the reason there are no known causes of PD that respond to
Sinemet-- is that they do respond to Sinemet?

-I agree with whoever's doctor said that it is not just protein that
competes for absorption of levadopa - but any food, protein being worse
because it takes longer to digest.

-I heard an older M.D.  allergist tell a patient that really even though we
think of allergies & asthma involving children, that the older we are the
more likely we are to become hypersensitive because by virtue of our age we
have had much more exposure to allergens.

-In discussing "my cause" with Dr.  Stephen Reich of Johns Hopkins, he
commented that the joke is that if a building caught on fire the
Parkinson's patients would be the first people out - we were talking about
"paradoxical kinesias"- I wonder - it wouldn't be because they got a shot
of adrenalin (epinephrine) would it?

-According to Merck, epinephrine(adrenalin) is a direct pharmacological
antagonist to histamine.

-While staying with a friend of the family for a few weeks I discovered
that if I played "Mrs.  Clean" - washed bedding, gown, cleaned room
thoroughly, I could sleep without pain - (I was on minimal meds because of
pregnancy)

-In the extremely clean air places - chip line, etc.  - one of the first
effects it has is that I become very sleepy.  (In sitting in a newly built
empty home for a few hours to see how it affected me, I laid down on the
hard floor with just my jacket for a pillow and drifted off - I was ~7 mo.
pregnant and couldn't hardly sleep at all for pain & insomnia under my
usual circumstances.

-I stayed in a Courtyard Marriott for several weeks and found that if I
went to the indoor pool/hottub room after the hottub had been in use for a
time that I could move normally for some time (on minimal meds w/pregnancy)
but as soon as the forced air heat came on it was all over.

-At one point during my ordeal, I kept losing hearing in my right ear
(affected side) but curiously enough found that if I pressed underneath my
ear or leaned way over my hearing in that ear would return.

-I believe I'm correct in saying that the carotid arteries that go up
either side of your head supply the substantia nigra.  When I press my neck
muscles in the back of my neck I believe I can "feel" blood flow up the
carotids.  (I have,according to my MRI, chronic, sustained neck muscle
spasm).

-As previously noted during an eight week period of NO medications &
extreme suffering I found I could make ALL my Parkinsonian symptoms go away
just briefly, by simply massaging my neck muscles a very long time with a
hand held heat/vibrating massager.

-Is autopsy really that good of a time to talk about dead brain cells? -
I'm asking a serious question.

-Arteriosclerosis is one cause of Parkinsonian symptoms - right?  Well
there's more than one way to stop up a garden hose - (or artery) (1) Put
something in it to stop it up - arteriosclerosis or embolus, OR (2) Squeeze
it together really tight -compression- by maybe neck muscle spasms?  in the
case of the artery.

-You could also decrease the water(blood) pressure which would happen if you dilated
(enlarged) the inside diameter of the tube(hose artery), and histamine is a
"POTENT vasodilator", so that when you stand up the blood pressure goes
down.

-In just poking around the internet I found studies that mentioned
histamine greatly increased the blood vessel diameter in rats.

-And also, though this one was too technical for my blood, which isn't
hard, there was another study that appeared to me to suggest that the
researchers found that histamine receptor sites did odd things (anomaly)
when the carotid vessels were occluded (stopped up).  My uneducated guess
would be they would probably demonstrate the same anomaly if the vessels
were compressed,right?

-I came to my conclusion about "my cause" because, well, it HAPPENED,then I
looked around and, low & behold, there were already known reasons that
substantiated it.

-If you ever EXPERIENCE it personally, you're convinced like no amount of
talk can dissuade you, you've "seen" the culprit at work.

-To you golfers, I suggest to you that it is no coincidence that of my
neurologists many and varied cases of PD, that the record holder of longest
time to disability was a PRO GOLFER, 20 years & still at it, compared to as
little as TWO years to disability for other patients.

-I think we are sometimes "over-awed" when some things are really pretty
obvious and easy to understand.  We are even awestruck and intimidated by
such fearful things as -the ALPHABET- when it is in a very long string and
has an important looking arrangement when really the meaning of the long
string of letters is ridiculously simple.  I refuse to be intimidated by
the ALPHABET if the meaning is simple, though I am often awestruck and
intimidated, and rightly so, of the concepts & meaning of some things and
am totally amazed at the understanding, knowledge, and expertise of many
people.

-Since it has been recently proven that I have billions of neurons less
than many people on this list (the men - though I don't think they have
much to gloat over since it also is known that the extra billions they have
are just laying around doing NOTHING except making their heads bigger -
(Jeff Jones - NYAH NYAH NYAH NYAH!!!!) Anyway, this being the case anything
I come up with is extremely simple, and to prove it I'll give an example of
my simple-minded way of thinking, and really ANY of us, but ESPECIALLY you
male types should see that with nothing but "DUH" logic even the "least
lustrous" like me can figure out some things.

-We'll approach it something like a geometry proof, though it's been a LONG
time since I did any of that anyway, sort of "DUH" logic:
Statement:  Cats can cause mental problems in some people.  (Sounds idiotic
doesn't it, but wait let's see how we came to that conclusion.)
GIVEN:  Merck Manual is a reasonably reliable source of information.
GIVEN:  Cat dander is a very common allergen.
GIVEN:  Some people become HYPERSENSITIVE to allergens and have whole body
reactions (Anaphylactic).
GIVEN:  In describing such a reaction Merck says symptoms may include
"agitation, uneasiness" which are mental symptoms, but also says may
develop signs of shock, which when we look up shock the symptoms include
"lethargy, confusion, & somnolence (or sleepiness), which also are mental
symptoms. Therefore we conclude that: Cats can cause mental symptoms in some
people.  DUH.

-Try another one.
STATEMENT: Cervical (neck) muscle spasms may cause Parkinsonian symptoms.
(Fantastical sounding - how do we figure that?
GIVEN: Arteriosclerosis sometimes causes Parkinsonian symptoms.
GIVEN: Arteriosclerosis causes ischemia (and hence Parkinsonism) because of occlusion of the blood
vessels.
GIVEN: You may also interfere with blood flow through arteries by compression
(squeezing tight) on the vessel.
GIVEN; Muscle spasm tightens & contracts the muscle along with anything
running through it (nerves or blood vessels) and therefore may compress the
arteries or veins (as in Thoracic Outlet Syndrome).
THEREFORE US DUH PEOPLE CONCLUDE THAT':  Neck muscle spasm may cause
Parkinsonian symptoms.

-It is only one small "Simon Says" baby step to say that-
GIVEN:  Histamine is released during allergic reactions.
GIVEN:  I have allergies.
GIVEN:  My MRI shows I have chronic, sustained, cervical (neck) muscle
spasm.
GIVEN:  Merck says histamine causes muscle spasm.
THEREFORE ME,DUH PERSON THAT I AM: thinks it is at least reasonable to
suspect that:  Allergies cause my Parkinsonism.

-The only difference then between occlusion and compression of an artery
could be that in occlusion the resulting ischemia would be constant
in the case of arteriosclerosis but  perhaps not in
compression because the blood stoppage could be intermittent.
(TIA-Transient ischemic attack.  Ischemia is the condition resulting from
tissue or organs not getting adequate blood supply).  Could this possibly
be the reason my symptoms all went away by simply massaging  my neck
muscles  a very long time when I was taking no medications at all??

-It also makes me wonder if that could be another reason that some types of Parkinson's
do not respond to Sinemet, and could also cause the declining response to Sinemet with "progression"
of the disorder?

What say you people with all those BILLIONS of extra brain cells?
Without even mentioning that, in fact, that is what happens in reality -
it has been demonstrated by actual experiences I have had.

I also read some research on the internet that showed that concentrations
of certain amino acid transmitters in the straitum (GABA, glutamate, etc)
were significantly reduced with histamine perfusion into the striatum.
They did not specifically mention dopamine, but it is also an amino acid
transmitter present in the straitum,right? I can give you the web site's URL
if you are interested.

Thanks, Janet ([log in to unmask]