o > From: Ida & Andre Kamphuis <[log in to unmask]> > The relation between smoking and PD has been consistently found during > many years. Some years ago I did ask my neuro whether he had any thoughts > about that. He said it was his impression that PWP's had less > tendency to get hooked on whatever stuff in the first place. So the > causality in the relation might be just the other way round. People who > have a tendecy to get PD don't have the same reaction as other people to > dependecy-creating stuffs and because of that don't like them so much. > > This same question, how to explain the obvious negative relation between > smoking and PD was during the last months of 1996 the subject of many > mails on the list. At that time I was in a rather bad shape and talking > it over with friends, we were convinced it couldn't do much harm to try > a nicotine patch. So I bought one and tried it. The story about the > results seems to me characteristic of PD. At first the results were > marvelous ( I got my handwriting from my pre-Parkinson life back) but > within a few days the results disappeared. So I stopped with the patches > and after a week tried one again, but now without any result and later > trials neither had any success. I told this on the next visit to my > neuro. His comment was that Parkinson never stopped to produce riddles. > He had witnessed in his practice a similar story. > > An other patient had told him her symptoms had astonishingly decreased > and she credited that to flagyl, a gynaecological anti -infective, > because the disappearence of Parkinson symptoms had been coningent on her > using this. The neuro and the other doctor who had prescribed the drug > consented she would not stop using it when it had finished its > anti-infective task. But allas; soon the PD symptoms were back with the > same strength. Just like I did with the patches, she too tried it later > again, but without any result. > > Now that I am writing this I looked for flagyl in my meds book and it > mentions neurological side effects as vertigo and ataxia and the same > effects as disulfiram ( a med. that is used by alcoholics to prevent > drinking ) . > > > Now about smoking. An outcome of the neurophysiological research on the > function of dopamine is that next to the role in movement, dopamine has > yet another role. It has a function in being able to experience positive > feelings. It makes that the rewards in life can be experienced as such. > Feeling positively excited is correlated with a heightened level of > dopamine in a certain part (the nucleus accumbens) in the brain. > > This is in accordance wth the frequency of depression in PWP's. Drugs, > that can cause addiction do all bind to dopamine receptors and cause a > heightening of the available dopamine. If that is not possible because > dopamine is lacking these drugs don't give a kick at all. That might be > an explanation for the fact that future PWP's don't smoke. Their disposal > of dopamine has been low for many years before the disease is manifest. > And if this is the whole story it makes no sense to start smoking to > prevent Parkinson. > > > Regards, Ida Kamphuis, Holland Hi The first thing I read on PD after I was diagnosed was Dr.Harvey Sagar's book " Parkinson's Disease " in which he explains away the statistics that show smokers have less PD than nonsmokers because of a character difference !!!! Shortly after I read in the " Scientific American " ( I think it was the May 96 issue ?? ) that using a PET scan it had been shown that nicotine increases the dopamine and ALSO decreases the MAO B ( the substance that takes out the dopamine in the brain ) . This double effect is far more likely to explain the statistics . I have never smoked so I tried this nicotine chewing gum . It made no difference to my PD symptoms just a little dizzy . At that time I was also getting no response to my PD symptoms from L-dopa !?!? For 9 months I tried L-dopa with no effect to the disbelief of the doctors . It was only after an intensive 1200 mg daily that I started to respond . My daily dose is now 400 mg . I must try nicotine again . The problem with finding a cure for PD is what I call the " Pele effect " after a character in Dr. Sachs book " The Awakenings " who given a football lost his PD symptoms and could play football . Footballs dont cure PD but something in his being very interested in football unscrambled a mental block . Dopamine plays an important part in this process, but the mechanism is still unclear . Boosting the dopamine level in the brain clearly helps PD in most cases . My own view is that this is a brain neurone firing pattern spasm but I am far from sure . A week ago I got a " Pele effect " when I was trying to see if boosting my potasium level inproved my PD . My foot cramps went away completely ( Eureka ! ) , but they came back in 3 days and so far no variations of the potasium treatment has helped my foot cramps !?!? At present the anomaly is put down to the Pele effect . But if this is the case, why can't we have a continual Pele effect ?!?! In many cases after the disappearance of the initial dramatic effect there is possibly a slight overall improvement shown up in statistics . I am sure with enough information we can work out what PD is and how to cure it . peace Alastair ( [log in to unmask] )