Since this is my first posting I would like to introduce myself:
I am Robert Naylor, a retired professional engineer with a wife who has
had Parkinson's for over 18 years.
For the first 14 years of her ailment, the medical profession did quite
a good job of enabling us to maintain a reasonable quality of life.
However, after that things gradually went from bad to worse and their system
of "Try this and come back in three months" was not working.
I began to realize that they did not have the time or the tools
necessary to adequately cope with her deteriorating condition.
I decided to undertake a research program to see if I could find some
answers to the problems encountered by advanced Parkinsonians.
I had spent much of my working life in research and I had a
Parkinsonian that I could observe every minute of a the day. Perhaps I
could find something missed by others who only see their research subjects
at discreet intervals.
My ultimate goal was to come up with a system that would assist the
doctors when dealing with patients in the later stages of Parkinson's.
I have had some success and many failures.
I have been able to reduce my wife's dyskinesias from an average of 4
hours per day to 30 minutes, rigidity to about the same length of time.
Falls have been reduced from an average of two per week to two per month.
Her mental outlook has improved to the point where she is now taking a much
greater interest in housework. I have developed some good computer programs
and charting systems that with further work will be useful to the medical
profession.
On the other hand I have only been able to reduce, not eliminate
dyskinesias during the diphasic stage.
Her voice is very weak and not always perfectly intelligible. The falls
have been reduced by mechanical aids not by improved movement.
However, I am still optimistic that Parkinson's can be beaten.
My next posting will be for Patrick and then I will follow with
postings of details of the methods and the results of my research program.
From Robert Naylor ([log in to unmask])
