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Claudia's response to my earlier input: Ron, Your comments on stress are absolutely symphonic! What do you suppose it means about our ability as PD patients to find alternate neural pathways, and relearn some of our lost functions? Have you hear about people correcting micrographia, cognitive deficits, balance, or whatever? As for the more cosmic aspects, my head is spinning. inflates my ego a bit. Since my ego is already great, that may be anti-beneficial. Her question does invite my further commenting. The exercise premise of Mark Hirsch is that specific weight training procedures do re-train the neural system(s) to improve balance in later stage PD affected persons. The training (re-training ?) of stroke victims is at least partially the manipulation to encourage using whatever cognitive control of affected body parts ... toward the goal of having the brain recognize the parts as it's own ... and use the slight connections to re-generate the necessary neural connections. The stroke damage is usually brain damage in one region where blood vessel rupture has changed things. Recovery from stroke results from removal of the blood contaminating the brain cells and removal of other debris; as well as growth of neural connections and repair of the various neural networks damaged. Cells made unfunctional may 'commit suicide' and die, then be re-sorbed into small pieces that the blood carries to the dump (lower bowel). The placebo phenomenon is essentially the brain's expectations being implemented by the advanced chemistry (bio-chemistry beyond our cognitive ken) within us doing what we expect. Depression is perhaps the reverse direction cycle of the improvement cycle of confidence and positive outlook. Dwelling upon morbid possibilities may bring depression to the level that one cars not about living. This cognitive focus or saturation of negativity may suppress the immune system and/or allow inactivation of the autonomic system that keeps our many normal living systems that keep us breathing, heating or cooling, absorbing nutrients, collecting and discarding waste, et cetera functioning. It may even be that dementia is the brain's method of forgetting the morbid cognition; or, the suicide mechanism of the mammal. Apoptosis (programmed nerve cell suicide word label) is an active research area. Attitude influences whether our response to a voodoo curse is laughter because we consider it non-real or fear and expectation of the event - which the brain may even carry out to the extent that a believer cursed to die dies. The other extreme of this is cure of cancer via "visualization" of the process of 'cell killers' seeking out and devouring cancer cells with expectation of cure bringing this about via the wonderful immune system. Be spunky and enjoy the process of life by liking and loving your self and all of this evolving life on spaceship earth. It is not over 'til we quit. Ron <[log in to unmask]> Ronald F. Vetter