> From: KF Etzold <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Dead or Dormant Cells
> It should be easy to find out if a braincell is dead or dormant. One more
> offensive method is an Autopsy. I think it should be relativly easy to tell the
> metabolic state of cells. I also think some indirect methods should reveal the
> state, such as scans, chemical analysis,
> electrical measurements. Indeed I suspect that there is material in the
> literature (Janet, you are good at this), that should have some
> analysis on this.
> K-F Etzold
Hi
Why wait till you are dead ? There are plenty of experiments you can
try on yourself . Here is one I tried recently .
It is well known that PWPs lose their sense of smell . Is this because
the neuron circuits that interpret nasal stimulation are dead or
inactive ?. I took snuff to stmulate these circuits . I did this at 3
different times relative to my L-dopa intake.
2 hours after my L-dopa pill the response to snuff was strong and
immediate .
18 hours after taking my last pill the response to snuff was weak
and took about 30 seconds . A repeat after a couple of minutes
produced a quicker and slightly stronger response .
40 hours after taking my last pill the response was so weak and
took so long that I was beggining to wonder if any of the pinch of
snuff had actually gone up my nose . There was a very weak reaction
after about a minute or more . A repeat after a couple of minutes did
speed up the reponse time and reaction some what .
Theory
PD is a neuron brain firing pattern that is abnormal . This
understimulates certain areas of the brain ( nasal stimulation
processing area ) and overstimulates other areas ( like parts of the
Thalamus and pallidus ) . When one is " on " having taken L-dopa the
brain neuron firing pattern is more normal so ones sense of smell
becomes more normal . The longer one is in the abnormal neuron firing
pattern the longer it takes for the " left out " neuron circuits to
activate . If they are not activated for very long periods they will
begin to die ( theory ) . In most PWPs this stage has not been reached .
I was hoping that stimulating the neural circuits associated with
smell would stimulate other diabled PD neuron circuits thus showing
PD to be an integrated neuron firing pattern anomaly . But the
experiment failed to produce conclusive evedence . In other words
taking snuff after 18 hours since my last L-dopa pill did not pro
duce an obvious improvement in walking .
I hope to repeat the experiment using ammonia or smelling salts to
give an even stronger nasal stimulus . This is all part of my on
going attempts to see what stimulations can be used to normalize the
abnormal neuron firing pattern I believe PD to be . Nasal stimulation
cannot be used as a cure but as one off experiment to understand the
nature of PD .
peace
Alastair ( [log in to unmask] )
