I found this interesting also. They told my Grandfather he may have gotten
the Parkinsons from Mustard Gas in France during WWI, and I know they used
oxygen masks because I used to play with his when I was small.

My father came down wit PD shortly after a heart procedure. He also had a
stroke on the table.

David

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Parkinson's Information Exchange
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Tim Hodgens
> Sent: Saturday, December 12, 1998 9:48 PM
> To: Multiple recipients of list PARKINSN
> Subject: Re: Phenonema: Phacts and Phallacies (11/12/98)
>
>
> Dear Janet,
>
> Since leaving the PARKINSN list I have had more time to read some old
> postings.  I came across yours and read it with interest.  It touches on
> several issues of interest to me, especially the rate of
> progression of PD.  I
> know it is variable but your statement: "also the fact that time
> to disability
> may vary as much as 40 years..." is fascinating.  Do you have
> more on that?
>
> Concerning your hunch about oxygen and PD...you may be able to
> track down some
> supportive material if you find people who have PD and who have
> also developed
> COPD and who are on continuous O2.  Secondly, you might want to talk with
> PWP's who have had heart attacks and find out their experiences
> with their PD
> while they were on O2 with respect to their symptoms (provided
> they were still
> receiving the same amount of parkinsonian agents as they usually
> received in
> the community)
>
> You may also want to talk with Hershel Toomin
> ([log in to unmask]) concerning
> your hypoperfusion hypothesis.  Hershel has been developing an interesting
> gizmo (description at end of this post) which measures areas of oxygen
> hypoperfusion in the brain and correlating that with a person's
> EEG.  He has
> found interesting and I think significant clinical implications
> with this non-
> invasive technique.  I asked him a question a few months ago
> about how that
> might be of value for people with PD and he said that while he had not
> actually explored that area, he thought there would be merit.
>
> Janet, since I am basically just sending in material to the list just from
> time to time, I would appreciate it if you would let me know if
> this generates
> any interesting discussion.
>
> Good luck,
>
> Tim Hodgens
>
> --
>
> Tim Hodgens, Ph.D.
> Psychologist
> Westborough, MA
>
> ---
>
>    CEREBRAL CIRCULATION FEEDBACK WITH INFRARED LIGHT  SCALP TRANSDUCER
>
> * Hershel Toomim, Antoine Remond, Marjorie Toomim, Robert Marsh,
> and Robert
> Lerk
>
> ABSTRACT
>
> Near infrared spectrophotometry is a non-invasive technique useful in
> Hemoencephalography (HEG) for measuring and training  neurofeedback aided
> control of hemoglobin saturation in the brain.  The method relates optical
> signals detected at the surface of the head to the ratio of oxygenated
> capillary blood to total capillary blood in a small volume of
> cortical tissue.
> Red and near infrared light sources shine through the translucent skull at
> appropriately chosen wavelengths.  The method relies on light
> reflection and
> scattering by red blood cells. Returned light, altered in color by brain
> tissues, is measured at the skin surface.  The ratio of  the collected
> transcranial non-invasive optical signals from a dual wavelength
> near-infrared
> spectrophotometer is used to control a computer-generated display
> to which a
> subject can respond and learn to control the color of cortical tissues.
> Results show the spectrophotometric measurements are readily
> controllable by
> subject's intent and are consonant with EEG measures.  Clinical
> results are
> rapid and positive in those brain injuries and dysfunctions encountered to
> date. In one case the HEG spectrophotometric treatment has been
> validated with
> a pre and post treatment SPECT finding.
>