Caffeine and nicotine is supposed to have healthy effect on PD symptoms. If
you are subscribing to Dr. Abraham Liebeman's
[log in to unmask] he was talking about this topic in detail
recently. I am sorry I do not remember the date. It was within the month
of May,02 I guess.
If I find the dagte I shall post it for you.
Raj
[log in to unmask]
----- Original Message -----
From: "winddam" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, May 20, 2002 3:07 PM
Subject: Re: IHT: Hints of a Parkinson's 'cluster'
> Janet ger
>
> We are especially interested in the effects of caffeine on Parkinsons. My
> husband tried 150 mg of caffeine a day for 6 days and the effect was
> positive and noticeable. The tremor ceased or reduced, he was alert and
> able to work normally without fatigue. Unfortunately a reaction set in on
> the 6th day.
>
> I am also trying to get more information on studies with the nicotine
patch.
> I know that studies in Germany were negative or inconclusive, but this was
a
> small sample with advanced disease and the patch is claimed to be most
> effective in early mild symptoms. Other studies have apparently been
> carried out.
>
> Does anybody have any information, either about caffeine or nicotine?
>
> dhiso
>
> Julie
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "janet paterson" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Monday, May 20, 2002 11:29 AM
> Subject: IHT: Hints of a Parkinson's 'cluster'
>
>
> > Hints of a Parkinson's 'cluster'
> >
> > Thursday, May 16, 2002 - NEW YORK - 2 years ago, after giving up his
> > television series "Spin City," Michael J. Fox created a medical research
> > foundation that already is renowned for its fast-paced disbursements to
> > scientists.
> >
> > Since April of last year, the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's
> > Research has given out nearly $17 million to help finance 57 studies.
> >
> > The foundation supports studies covering everything from gene therapy to
> > the effects of caffeine on Parkinson's disease.
> >
> > It has recently dedicated $4.4 million to developing stem cell lines
that
> > could be implanted in the brains of Parkinson's patients to replace the
> > dopamine-producing cells they have lost.
> >
> > It is about to underwrite strategies for reducing dyskinesia, the
> > involuntary movements that are side effects of taking L-dopa, the drug
> used
> > most often to quell the tremors and rigidity of Parkinson's disease.
> >
> > Fox's celebrity can do more than raise money. It may also help open an
> > avenue of research that scientists have long wanted to explore.
> >
> > Fox, it turns out, was one of 4 people who worked on a production crew
at
> a
> > television studio in Vancouver in the late 1970s and developed
Parkinson's
> > disease. Given that only 125 people worked on the crew in those years -
> > including actors, directors, writers, production people and
technicians -
> > the number of cases seems extraordinary.
> >
> > Typically, Parkinson's disease afflicts 1 in 300 people. In people as
> young
> > as Fox, 30 when the disease was diagnosed in 1991, the illness is much
> rarer.
> >
> > Fewer than 5 percent of Parkinson's patients develop symptoms before age
> > 50, said Caroline Tanner of the Parkinson's Institute. So the situation
is
> > even more unusual because the Vancouver cluster includes Fox and a woman
> > who learned she had Parkinson's at age 38.
> >
> > The 4 people worked together from 1976 to 1980, when it is possible that
> > the disease began in all of them.
> >
> > Parkinson's progresses gradually, taking 5 to 10 years from the time it
> > starts to the appearance of the first symptoms - usually, rigidity in an
> > arm or leg or tremor in a hand.
> >
> > Donald Calne, director of the neurodegenerative disorders center at the
> > University of British Columbia, estimates that the odds of the four
cases
> > occurring at the same time in such a small group of people are less than
1
> > in 1,000.
> >
> > He and other scientists say the cluster warrants investigation.
> >
> > "I would say that would certainly show up on my radar screen," said
> William
> > Langston, director of the Parkinson's Institute in Sunnyvale,
California,
> > and chief scientific adviser to the Fox Foundation. "I would definitely
> > want to look further."
> >
> > Clusters of Parkinson's cases occur from time to time, when, for
example,
> a
> > number of people in a neighborhood or small town develop the disease.
But
> > they often go unnoticed or are ignored because scientists lack the time
> and
> > money to look into them.
> >
> > In this case, the publicity surrounding Fox's admission that he had
> > Parkinson's, nearly three and half years ago, drew the cases into the
> > spotlight.
> >
> > Don Williams, who directed Fox in two Canadian situation comedies
> beginning
> > when the actor was 16, also has Parkinson's. He learned of his illness 9
> > years ago, when he was 55. Sally Gardner, whose Parkinson's was
diagnosed
> > when she was 38, in 1984, had been a script supervisor in the late
1970s,
> > and had worked with Fox and Williams. The fourth member of the cluster
is
> a
> > cameraman who has kept his identity secret; his diagnosis came at age
54.
> >
> > Could something at the television studio have caused the disease in all
4
> > people? Calne, Langston and other experts believe it could have. Perhaps
> > something they breathed or ate or drank - a toxin, perhaps, or an
> > infectious agent - set the disease process in motion.
> >
> > "If this is a genuine cluster and not a statistical fluke," said Oliver
> > Sacks, a neurologist and writer, "it would certainly suggest an
> > environmental agent at work."
> >
> > The mystery is especially compelling because scientists do not know what
> > causes most cases of Parkinson's. Most believe that both genetic and
> > environmental factors are at work.
> >
> > "We often say that maybe people have some gene that predisposes them to
be
> > susceptible to any number of things in the environment," said William
> > Weiner, chairman of neurology department at the University of Maryland
> > School of Medicine. "But that's probably just another way of saying we
> > don't know the cause."
> >
> > The disease occurs when cells in the substantia nigra, a darkly
pigmented
> > part of the midbrain, about half the size of an adult index fingernail,
> > start to die off. These cells produce dopamine, a chemical messenger
that
> > is essential for normal muscle movement.
> >
> > The cell death occurs gradually, and that is why Parkinson's can go
> > unnoticed for so long. Once dopamine production declines by about 80
> > percent, the patient begins to experience the 4 classic symptoms:
tremor,
> > stiffness, slow movement and problems with walking, posture and balance.
> >
> > In some cases, the cell death is set off by genetic mutations.
Scientists
> > have identified two genes that are involved in Parkinson's and have
> > pinpointed the locations of 4 others.
> >
> > But Parkinson's does not seem to be primarily a genetic disorder. It
runs
> > in the families of only about 10 percent to 15 percent of patients,
Tanner
> > of the Parkinson's Institute said. A large study she conducted indicated
> > that the identical twins of Parkinson's patients are no more likely to
> have
> > the disease than fraternal twins - a sign that the disease is not
largely
> > genetic.
> >
> > Environmental agents have also been known to create symptoms. In the era
> of
> > World War I, for example, some people who had contracted the virus that
> > causes sleeping sickness later developed what came to be known as
> > post-encephalitic parkinsonism, a particularly severe disorder that left
> > people in trancelike states.
> >
> > It is possible that a virus could also have been involved in the
so-called
> > Fox cluster. "It is important to look for infectious as well as toxic
> > agents," Sacks said.
> >
> > Mary Duenwald The New York Times
> > Copyright 2002 The International Herald Tribune
> > http://www.iht.com/articles/57830.htm
> >
> > janet paterson: an akinetic rigid subtype, albeit perky, parky
> > pd: 55/41/37 cd: 55/44/43 tel: 613 256 8340 email: [log in to unmask]
> > smail: 375 Country Street, Almonte, Ontario, Canada, K0A 1A0
> > a new voice: http://www.geocities.com/janet313/
> >
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