Ervin: Thanks for sharing your experience with gluathione injection. You tell me glutathione did not work for you and so was sinemet. What are you taking now? I ran into apomorphine the other day as a substitute for l-dopa and I posted an article from BMJ a couple of days ago. However, I am told that the effect of apomorphine doesn't last long and it is being used in France to minimise the "off" effect of sinemet. Another chain of thought: Are these observations trying to tell us something? 1. I understand that in addition to having se beneficial effect on PD symptoms, apomorphine is also very effective in erectile disfunction problems and it is coming out as a competitor for viagra with a different trade name. 2. This brings up some thing else. If you remember last month or so, Murray Charters(?) posted a web site for us to watch. One of the articles stated that taking 3-6 mg viagra every day (this is a far lower dose than 50 - 100 mg / use one takes for erectile disfunction) retarded the progression of PD. (I have to trace that article and read it again carefully). 3. A week or so ago, the news release from NIH stated that in about 30% (?) of male PD patients, when given testosterone to eliminate testosterone deficiency, the symptoms of PD faded away. [I am sure testasterone is made by the female body also; some how female patients were not included in the test, if I remember right.] 4. I am taking glutathione orally for the past 10 days or so. [I am not yet convinced in the absence of any data that iv injection of Glutathine is necesary.] My energy level is very high and am very active. I can work on the computer for several hours everyday with out suffering any pain in my right shoulder, as I use to. My stiffness and pain in the calf musle is highly reduced, but not eliminated. Glutathione is an anti-aging antioxident. I am wondering if all these agents work via similar or related mechanisms. Raj [log in to unmask] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ervin McCarthy" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Thursday, June 06, 2002 8:10 PM Subject: Re: Raj/glutathione > Raj: > Being you mentioned Dr. Perlmutter, I was a patient of his during the winter > months that I spent in Florida. He seemed to be very knowledgeable Dr. > three months ago I started on Glutathione here in Michigan. I took the > intravenous injections twice a week for six weeks without a positive effect. > I guess I'm one of the unfortunate ones. > It sounds like your taking good care of yourself, by your regimen. Keep up > the good work. > > Ervin McCarthy > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Brightline" <[log in to unmask]> > To: <[log in to unmask]> > Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2002 4:33 PM > Subject: Raj/glutathione > > > > Hi! Ervin & Rayilyn: > > I have never tried Sinemet, eventhough I have a prescrition for it. I > > am sure it will be of help, based on the nearly 30 years of experience > with > > levodopa. However, I am still reluctant to try it due to its mile long > list > > of side effects, (however low freqnuency of occurrence they might be) and > am > > keeping it handy as a last resort. I may not be surprised if for some > > people it does not work. Even in the NPF info it states that L-dopa has > > been shown to be harmful to dopamine producing cells in vitro and in vivio > > in animal studies. It states that L-dopa may or may not be beneficial! > > But, both Dr. AH Rajput and Dr. Jancovics believe, however, it is not > > harmful to humans. This is supported by the fact that since the > > introduction of L-dopa or sinemet, people with PD have been living longer. > > In the article by Dr. Perlmuter, it says that both dopmine and > > glutathione are low in PD patients. For some reason L-dopa application > has > > caught up and the fate of glutatione deficiency has been left hanging in > the > > air. I have been taking glutathione - reduced for the last week or so. I > > definitely feel some improvement in my condition, good enough to postpone > > taking sinement. I do not know how to quantitate my results. I am not > sure > > how long this beneficial effect will last. I would like to know your > > experience with Glutathione. One should not expect miracles, since > whatever > > is lost is lost for ever. I only hope this will slow down the prgression > of > > PD, as evidencd by decrease in and not total elimnation of the symptoms of > > PD. > > > > First thing in the morning I take a cup of greentea with a tablespoon > of > > honey with no milk or sugar. Some times I include about 25-50 mg of > > caffeine pill along with my tea. > > I am taking glutathione along with phosphatydilserine, B6, B12, > Folate, > > Vitamin E and about 1/3 pill of multivitamain (senior edition with less > > amount of iron) every day in the morning just before breakfast. > > My breakfast consists of bran flakes, about 12 fresh almonds, a pinch > > of peeled pumpkin seeds (for my prostate problems), and a spoon full of > > powdered flax seed; this also includes one cup of a fruit juice cocktail > > (1:1 mix of orange and tomato juices with a small amount of blue berry > > juice). > > (I am a little bit uncertain about the benefit of blue berry or bb > juice > > for PD patients, since aluminum sulfate is used as a fertlizer for blue > > berry plants. Aluminum has been implicated in PD and in Alzheimer's. > Does > > anybody know the aluminum content of blue berries? So do I with regard to > > commercial yogurts. In 1960s and 70s, the preservative in commercial > > yogurt called MSG or monosodium glutamate [also earlier used in Chinese > > cooking] has been a contentious issue since in animal studies this caused > > serious nervous system disorders. Some yogurt products still state 1-2% > MG > > on their stickers. I often wonder is MG is the same as MSG!) Sorry for > > being paranoid. It is better to be careful, than feeling sorry later. > > > > For lunch and supper, I take pretty much anything, except that I make > > sure to take a good dose of fresh vegetables and fruits. > > Of course, I also include at least 20-30 min of exercise every > morning. > > > > There is no guarantee that what might seem to work for me may work for > > everybody, since as you well know, PD is a personalized disease, often > with > > comomn symptoms that show up at variable rate and similarly, the resonse > to > > any drug is also variable between individals. YOU SHOULD DEFINIELY > CONSULT > > WITH YOR DOCTOR ON ANYTHING YOU TAKE OR DO FOR YOUR PD. > > > > QUESTION: > > If both dopamine and glutathione are low in PD patients, I would ask > > myself if it would make sense to take glutathione in addition to sinemet. > > BUT, I DON'T HAVE THE ANSWER FOR THIS QUESTION. SO PLEASE DO NOT TRY. > > SOME TIMES, THERE COULD BE UNFORSEEN HARMFUL EFFECTS IF TWO DRUGS ARE > > COMBINED. > > GOOD EXAMPLE: A CLINICAL TRIAL WAS STOPPED HALFWAY IN ENGLAND > RECENTLY > > SINCE IT INCREASED MORTALITY RATE AMONG THE GROUP OF PD PATIENTS THAT WERE > > GIVEN L-DOPA (SINEMET?) AND SELGELINE! > > > > > > Raj > > [log in to unmask] > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Ervin McCarthy" <[log in to unmask]> > > To: <[log in to unmask]> > > Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2002 9:33 PM > > Subject: Re: Raj/glutathione > > > > > > > Rayilyn, I have gotten the same results from Sinemet on three occasions. > > I > > > was curious if anyone else had the same results. Now I know. Thank > you. > > > Ervin McCarthy > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > > From: "Rayilyn Brown" <[log in to unmask]> > > > To: <[log in to unmask]> > > > Sent: Monday, June 03, 2002 9:39 PM > > > Subject: Re: Raj/glutathione > > > > > > > > > > Raj, Thanks for the info on glutathione...that it is a small > molecule. > > > I'm > > > > going to try the oral glutathione first, before intravenous. Sinemet > > > never > > > > helped me much and after a year made dystonia in my feet unbearable. > > > I''ve > > > > tried it again 3 times with same result. Rayilyn > > > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: > > > mailto:[log in to unmask] > > > > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: > > mailto:[log in to unmask] > > > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn > > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: > mailto:[log in to unmask] > > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn