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Hello, I have been reading the many posts on this PD listserver for only a week and by no means understand this disease very well, but already I would like to share some of my own thoughts on what I have learned. I. Even accounting for the fact that older people are less connected to the 'net and that some of you are reading this on behalf of your parents, there seem to be more younger people with PD than I would have suspected previously. Thus, some of you would look physically healthy, though still have symptoms of PD. My conclusion from this observation is that certain individuals in society (such as the younger of us reading this) have been subjected to something that causes damage not to the body as a whole, as would be the case with general old age, but to specifically the elements of the body that if damaged would cause PD. This supports the toxin theory that some of Wendy's posts would seem to indicate. Again, it can be deduced without any knowledge of the physiology of the body. II. This begs the question of what the environmental toxins or factors are. I have a couple of ideas on this that I would like feedback on. They both center on brain damage related to the dopamine pathways that can occur under special conditions. The following questions/points are especially directed to young and middle-aged people with symptoms of PD. a) Do some of us have a mild form of PKU (phenylketonuria)? People with this disease have deficient levels of pteridine reductase, which regenerates the cofactor responsible for removing (the toxic) phenylalanine. The symptoms I would guess such people would have are headaches upon ingestion of foods with high phenylalanine amino ratios, such as soft drinks with Nutrasweet, or headaches upon taking "brain pills" or appetite-suppressors sold in health food stores, which can contain isolated tyrosine or phenylalanine. To have caused any brain damage leading to PD, ingestion of such compounds would have been necessary just before the patient developed PD symptoms. b) Is there a possibility that taking B-vitamin supplements elevates all but the pteridine reductase enzyme reaction rates, resulting elevated phyenylalanine ratios and a chemically induced form of mild PKU? In other words, did any people take multivitamins that contain more than the RDA levels of B vitamins before getting PD? c) What about legal or illegal drugs? There are numerous antidepressant drugs that can damage (prematurely age) the postsynaptic receptors. Did any of you start to develop PD after taking a specific drug? Note: I have no real evidence that multivitamins, Nutrasweet, drugs, or phenylalanine supplements could cause PD; I just want feedback on these highly questionable ideas before pursuing them further. Sincerely, Jason Taylor __________________________________________________________________________ Jason Taylor | "Doctor, don't cut so deep! Greenbelt, MD| That's the third operating table you've ruined this week!"