Hi! Paul: Thanks for sharing your history of medicine and your regimen. T his si gthe kind of info we newbies need. I am one of those who has been dxed in 2000 with PD and have a prescription for sinemet. Have been trying to avoid sinemet and attempting other things. For example, I am taking phosphatidylserine, gluathione, Vit E, C, B6, 12, CoQ10, alpha-lipoic acid, and Folate. I would appreciate if you share with us the other non-PD anti-aging stuff you take, if you don't mind. This is also my working hypothesis: Since PD affects usually old age people, anti-aging factors should help ameliarate or even retard the progression of PD, if by luck we can reverse the process of aging even by a small fraction. I always believe in Dr. Lieberman's motto "Shaking up Parkinsons. Thinking like a tiger and thinking like a fox". Goold luck. And thanks. Raj [log in to unmask] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Paul Lauer" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2002 10:02 PM Subject: perhaps neuroprotection, perhaps luck > Hi All: It's been awhile since I put my oar in the LISTSERV water but there > seem to be a number of somewhat new readers and writers to whom my stuff > won't be repetitive or boring. Everyone else please grit your teeth. > > I was dx in February 1999 so I am only three+ years into the disease. I > started with tremor and micrographia and have since added stiffness (not > constant) in my tremor arm and a slight shuffling, basically when I'm not > paying attention. Either I am lucky with a slow progression (knock wood) or > the proactive steps I have taken are helping. Neither I nor either of my two > Neuros know, but I'll settle for it, whatever the reason. > > What do I mean by proactive? Early on I joined a Ganglioside GM! study in > Philadelphia (3 hours drive each way). I was in it for more than I year when > I (foolishly) dropped out trying to find the cause of lower leg edema which > had developed over time. It is a study of a possible neuroprotective compound > and again, unless I just am lucky enough to have natural slow progression, I > believe it was working. Unfortunately, having dropped out, I can't rejoin. > Sometime in 2000 I read of the Coenzyme Q10 study recruitment so I called one > of the study centers and found out I was ineligible because I was on meds > (Sinemet) but had a long chat with the coordinator who was good enough to > tell me that no one thus far had developed any adverse reactions to the large > doses in the study. So after checking with my main Neuro, Dr. Stanley Fahn > and finding he had no objections I began taking 900 mg of COQ10 and was > therefore a year and a half or so ahead of the curve although the theoretical > therapeutic amount is 1200 mg/day which I have now stepped up to taking. > > About a half year into dx, information I read here and elsewhere convinced me > that I didn't want to be taking Sinemet if I didn't absolutely need it. I > suggested this to both Neuros and wound up coming off Sinemet and onto > Requip, eventually reaching 3.75 mg/tid before needing to titrate down off of > it to see if it was causing my edema. I stayed off it for 4 months, > reluctantly substituting Sinemet CR 25/100 bid and the edema didn't abate so > I am almost back up to my therapeutic dose again with one of the two Sinemet > eliminated and the other to be eliminated in two weeks when my dose is where > I want it to be. Point of this last bit of prolix is that by luck, I started > Requip early, and it has now been shown to have some neuroprotective value. > But these are only the beginning of proactive. On Dr. Fahn's advice, I take > 3000 mg of vitamin C and 3200 I.U. of vitamin E daily. On the advice of my > other Neuro, I take one Beta Carotene (25,000 units of vitamin A) and > something called a stresstab which is a CVS (retail pharmacy in the Northeast > U.S.) version of mainly a vitamin B cocktail. To these I have added 200 mg of > Selenium, another strong antioxidant and I won't bore you with the non-pd > other stuff I take to try to be younger than my approaching 65th birthday. > the important point here is that with the cognizance of my Neuros I take > massive doses of antioxidant daily. > > So, one neuroprotective clinical trial, one neuroprotective supplement, one > neuroprotective medication, massive doses of antioxidant, and perhaps a large > dose of luck enable me to keep working (I build houses), keep at my hobby (I > collect Wedgwood), read three newspapers a day, be the picture framer in my > wife's art gallery (which will end soon after 16 years) and generally live my > life as it was pre dx discounting a little tremor, stiffness here and there > and inability to sign my own check legibly from time to time. As a not > inconsequential aside, but perhaps fodder for another thread is that all the > fine motor skills required in the frame shop are unaffected whenever I'm > framing. > > If this message says anything, it says be proactive. Don't put yourself fully > in their hands. Make suggestions. Try stuff. > > Regards, > > > Paul H. Lauer > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > 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