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Hello Ida, I hope that you will make an exception and respond to this note, because I think the subject deserves the best minds that we can bring to bear on it. While there are neurologists who have their own opinions, there appears to be such a lack of unanimity that we may even be able to make a contribution. Ida wrote to Tom Riess > Do you really think that a PWP can end all that tormenting and terribly > invalidating dyskinesia by merely laying down and close his/her eyes? If > you don't, I don't understand your article, If you do, I do understand > what you are saying but I can't believe you are talking about the de same > phenomenon that I am talking about. So I can't relate your theory to my > experience. > For example after my pallidotomy the dyskinesia has totally disapeared in > one half of my body. That half sided dyskinesia does not fit into your > model as conforming to the discrepancies, that you mention. > I think that you must accept that, within certain limits at least,closing ones eyes does stop dyskinesias. Judith Richards got a positive response, I got a positive response although I limited my experience to mild to medium dyskinesias because I have no results with heavy dyskinesias, and am not prepared voluntarily to play in that area. My expectation would be that you (Ida) are correct and that closing your eyes would not stop large dyskinesias. If we stand back a little, and look at the system, I think we are all saying the same thing: To complete the loop from deciding to move your hand from A to B involves first, the propagation of Dopamine to the appropriate parts of the nervous system, followed by the electrical 'message', and then a feedback system of incredible sophistication, but including a return nervous system passing through the Globus Pallidus, and last but not least the visual system . I believe that a pallidotomy, effectively turns down the gain of the feedback signal, thus making a better match to the feeble signal from the Parkinsons-affected brain. Similarly, closing your eyes frees the brain from having to cope with another possibly conflicting signal. Note: If you have had a Pallidotomy the eye-closing routine might have a quite different effect, since the Pallidotomy and the eye-closing may be additive, subtractive, or simply the pallidotomy may swamp the eye-closing effect. My story falters a little when I have to account for the excess dopamine which (I think) seeps into the basal ganglia, into places where it was not expected, and maybe fragmenting the signal, thus producing the Parkinson symptoms. Regards, -- Brian Collins <[log in to unmask]>