Hello friends, I have been rather quiet lately -just having a mental breather
One outcome is that I managed to bring up to date my 'Model' of the
Levodopa/Brain interaction.
WHY do we need a model?
I can tell you why I need a model - you must make your own minds up as to
whether you need one or not.
As one who had little understanding of the nervous system or neurology before
developing PD (I am an Engineer by training), I rapidly came to the conclusion
that I was never going to undrstand clearly the many and subtle reactions and
events occuring in the brain - indeed, I doubt if many neurologists would
claim to either. They are no doubt ahead of us in their overall understanding,
but I suspect that the amount that we know is still only a small part of the
total story.
Nevertheless, if we stand back a bit from the close-up view which is so
confusing, so that we can see the overall story (a bit blurred maybe), I see
a need for a model of the macro system (Rather than the micro system), to
enable me to understand what is happening when I take my Sinemet/Madopar,
etc. The key test of such a model is that it will hopefully indicate
correctly (more ot less) the systen's response to an event or change which
was not known or evident when the model was designed.
My current model is the result of a steady evolution over a number of years,
as I learned more about the brain. All I can say is that it works for me, and
maybe it could work for you.
Rather than bore the odd 99% of you who don't wish to know, I will not enclose
the description of the model, I have posted it in Simon Cole's excellent web
site - the URL is given below. If for any reason you are unable to access
the site, e-mail me and I will send a copy directly to you.
The URL for Simon's Site is :-
http://james.Parkinsons.org.uk/ You will find my name near
near the bottom of the page
Regards,
--
Brian Collins <[log in to unmask]>
