Drug-induced Parkinson's
When it comes to Parkinson's
disease, there currently isn't a cure... or even a definitive test your doctor
can use to diagnose it.
Typically, it's enough to
confirm a diagnosis if a patient has at least 3 of 4 major symptoms: tremors during
rest, a slowing of movements, stiffness in arms and legs, and slow shuffling
steps while walking.
In the U.S. alone, docs make
that determination over 60,000 times a year.
But untold numbers of those
patients don't need the drugs, treatments, and everything else that comes along
with a doctor's confirmation of this terrible disease.
Classic symptoms of
Parkinson's, like loss of balance, shuffling gait, and tremors, can be caused
by something other than the disease -- which means that they don't really have
Parkinson's to begin with.
It even has a name: Drug-induced Parkinson's (DIP).
And that's something that
you're going to want to share with everyone you know -- not only in April, when
it's Parkinson's Awareness Month -- but all year long.
As you may know, Parkinson's
disease is basically the slow destruction of cells in the brain that produce
the all-important "chemical messenger" called dopamine, which is
vital in maintaining your mood, your movements, and everything in between.
Some drugs can block dopamine
in your brain, which can trigger almost exactly the same symptoms as full-blown
Parkinson's.
But here's where things can
get really confusing fast.
The meds prescribed to
control Parkinson's can be devastating all on their own. One called Xadago,
which was approved by the FDA just a little over a year ago, lists side effects
such as "uncontrolled involuntary movement." And falls are said to be
a "common" adverse reaction.
So, someone who is suffering
from DIP may very likely be put on another drug, one that can also produce
terrible Parkinson's-like side effects. It's the very definition of a vicious
cycle, but it may never be recognized.
And according to Public
Citizen's Health Research Group, 49 drugs have been identified as potentially
triggering this reaction.
Two of the drugs that can
cause DIP, Compazine and Reglan, are prescribed to treat heartburn and nausea.
Others include antidepressants and antipsychotics (Zoloft, Haldol, Risperdal,
and Nardil), meds given to prevent migraines (such as Valproate), and those
intended to prevent seizures (like Gabitril).
Of course, any and all meds
can be prescribed off-label, so an unsuspecting patient could get an
anti-seizure drug or antidepressant for just about anything, major or minor.
I know that sounds crazy, but
it happens all the time.
The good news is that if
someone does have DIP, getting off the drug that triggered it usually reverses
the condition -- in effect "curing" their Parkinson's.
Just know that it may not
happen immediately... it could take months for the symptoms to be reversed.
So, if you or someone you
love has been diagnosed with Parkinson's -- or even if you're concerned enough
to be Googling symptoms of the disease -- the very first thing to do is check
the medicine cabinet.
And if you're not sure, do
some research immediately. The stakes are too high to put it off.
Topical Black Seed Oil Beats
Tylenol For Pain Relief in Osteoarthritis
Written By: Sayer Ji, Founder,
at GreenMedInfo LLC
The tiny black seed strikes
again! Even orally administered Tylenol can't compete with the topical
application of this potent healing oil to reduce symptoms of one of the most
common health complaints of our time.
Recently, over-the-counter
"pain killing" drugs like ibuprofen and Tylenol have been found to
have a battery of serious adverse side effects, some even life-threatening.
Even aspirin, commonly believed to be a life-saving cardioprotective agent, has
come under scrutiny as perhaps doing far more harm than good. Even more
astounding is the recent discovery that some of these drugs have soul-numbing
properties not unlike psychotropic medications.
Due to the growing concern
about both the physical and psychological harms of these pharmaceutical agents,
interest in natural, evidence-based alternatives has been exploding. In order
to satisfy the demand for scientifically validated alternatives to drugs
GreenMedInfo has accumulated hundreds of abstracts on the topic, which can be
viewed on our various related database pages, such as Pain, Aspirin
Alternatives, and Ibuprofen Alternatives.
Why is Everyone Using NSAIDs
and Tylenol?
The reality is that because
millions suffer from pain and inflammation on a daily basis, the promise of
popping a pill to relieve discomfort is an ever-present temptation. It doesn’t
help that the US is one of three countries that permit drug companies and
pharmacies are allowed to advertise these medications directly to the consumer
through television and other mainstream media channels.
But is it logical to expect a
potent chemical to positively alter symptoms that aren’t caused by a lack of
that chemical? If poor diet, lifestyle,
chemical exposures, and a suboptimal mindset are the basis of most chronic
health issues, then shouldn’t the focus be on addressing and reversing these
underlying variables instead? This would be the goal of so-called “root cause
resolution” medicine. Instead, palliative medicine -- where the goal is to
suppress symptoms -- is the default approach; but it’s not sustainable and the
collateral damage to one’s health is often not worth the risk of the
intervention.
When Food (Applied Topically)
Is More Powerful Than Pharmaceutical Medicine
A recent clinical trial
entitled, “Effect of Topical Application of Nigella Sativa Oil and Oral
Acetaminophen on Pain in Elderly with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Crossover Clinical
Trial,” compared topical black seed oil with oral Tylenol on pain in elderly
osteoarthritis patients.
Study participants were
divided into two groups of 10:
One group received 1
milliliter of black seed oil applied on the knee joint 3 times a day every 8
hours for 3 weeks.
One group was given 1 tablet
of 325 mg acetaminophen also 3 times a day every 8 hours for 3 weeks.
This study was performed on
40 elderly patients, average age 77, 18 (45%) men and 22 (55%) women.
The criteria for inclusion in
the study included the following common symptoms related to knee
osteoarthritis:
"Age over 65 years
diagnosis of knee osteoarthritis, according to American College Rheumatology
diagnostic criteria, included 1) knee pain on most days of the last month; 2)
crepitus (joint sound in active motion); 3) morning stiffness less than 30
minutes; and 4) inflation in the examination of the knee bone, respectively.”
The promising results of the
intervention were reported as follows:
“Study results showed that
topical application of Nigella sativa oil and oral acetaminophen reduced pain
in elderly with knee osteoarthritis; after using Nigella sativa oil, the
reduction of pain was higher (p=0.01).”
The researchers concluded:
“This study showed that
topical use of Nigella sativa oil can be more effective in reducing knee pain
in elderly patients than acetaminophen, which is typically used as a safe
supplement for the elderly.”
One of the reasons why the
pharmaceutical industry and mainstream medicine will not invest in food-based
solutions for preventing and treating disease is because these common foods and
spices do not lend themselves to being easily understandable, nor patentable.
We may never know exactly why the relatively infinitely more complex
concentrate of a food like black seed oil produces superior effects when
compared to drugs like Tylenol. But
knowing how something works should be of secondary importance to the fact that
it does work, shouldn't it?
"Mother Nature's
formulas are proprietary, but she does not grant patents." ~ Sayer Ji
The primary reason why we
will never see conventional physicians prescribing food as medicine is because
the FDA defines anything that "prevents, cures, diagnoses or cures
disease" as a "drug," and FDA drug approval can cost tens of millions of dollars per drug. Can you imagine a walnut company investing that much money in
order to prove the obvious: namely, that its product has health benefits?
Chemicals, on the other hand, are ideal for this kind of commercialization,
even if they almost invariably carry debilitating and deadly side effects.
Closing Comments
This study illustrates the
power of natural, food-based alternatives for reducing symptoms in a way that
does not produce the risks associated with drug-based interventions. In fact,
given that pain killers such as Tylenol actually increase the risk of serious
diseases such as asthma, and black seed oil has been shown to reduce asthma,
the superiority of black seed oil over conventional drugs like Tylenol may be
far more profound than overtly discussed in this study.
For more information on the
“side benefits” of black seed oil, please visit our Black Seed database which
contains research on over 100 health conditions that it has been studied to
have potential therapeutic application in improving. Also, please use our
extensive Osteoarthritis database to learn more about natural and/or
integrative approaches to treating the condition.
It should also be noted the
highly therapeutic ritual of massaging the oil into the knee may have played a
significant role in producing the observed positive outcome. Here is the
specific method used:
“In the first stage, for the
first group about 1 ml Nigella sativa oil was applied on the knee joint three
times a day every 8 hours for 1 week. The massaging method was done with the
entire palm in a way that continued for 5 minutes, massaged in a clockwise
direction at the front and sides of the knee joint.
Consider also that 1
millimeter is only about 1 gram. That's a very small amount of oil. One
teaspoon would have about 5 grams, or 5 servings worth of black seed oil.
Black seed oil is clearly a
perfect example of an ancient healing substance which has undergone a modern
day Renaissance of scientific validation. As the old world drug-based paradigm
of symptom suppression continues to be proven inadequate, especially outside of
the emergency setting (where drugs can
sometimes have life-saving applications), interest is growing in evidence-based
natural alternatives like black seed. Black seed is only the tip of a massive
iceberg of thousands of science-backed natural compounds that could be used to
alleviate human suffering. Please use the GreenMedInfo.com Research Dashboard
to search over 10,000 health topics and share your findings with friends,
family, and practitioners who may be interested in this topic.
Vitamin D Deficiency Linked
to Dementia
By Dr. Mercola
Story at-a-glance
- Vitamin D deficiency is associated with a substantially increased risk of dementia, including Alzheimer disease
- People who were severely deficient in vitamin D had a 122 percent increased risk of developing dementia, whereas those who were moderately deficient were at a 53 percent greater risk
- For Alzheimer’s disease specifically, being severely vitamin D deficient was linked to a 122 percent increased risk compared to a 69 percent increase for those who were moderately deficient
- Vitamin D has been reported to increase the expression of LRP-1, a protein that helps clear amyloid beta, a toxic protein linked to Alzheimer's, from the brain
Vitamin D, once primarily
known for its role in bone health, has traversed into the mainstream as one of
the most important vitamins for overall health and disease prevention. From
your heart to your gut and, as accumulating research shows, your brain, making
sure you’re getting enough vitamin D is one of the simplest ways to make a
difference in your health. Worldwide, an estimated 47 million people are living
with dementia, and this is expected to increase to 75 million by 2030.1
Dementia, of which
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form, refers to memory loss and other
changes in cognitive abilities that make performing everyday activities
difficult. Research suggests, however, that you can lower your risk of this
debilitating disease by optimizing your vitamin D levels.
Low Vitamin D Increases
Dementia Risk
In a six-year study that
followed more than 1,600 people, vitamin D deficiency was found to have a
substantially increased risk of dementia, including Alzheimer disease. In fact,
people who were severely deficient in vitamin D had a 122 percent increased
risk of developing dementia, whereas those who were moderately deficient were
at a 53 percent greater risk.
For Alzheimer’s disease
specifically, being severely vitamin D deficient was linked to a 122 percent
increased risk compared to a 69 percent increase for those who were moderately
deficient.3
Researchers are now looking
into uncovering the optimal timing and duration during which optimizing vitamin
D clearly helps protect against dementia, but a sensible solution is to monitor
your levels and keep your levels optimized throughout your life.
Vitamin D Is Neuroprotective
Vitamin D is a steroid
hormone that influences virtually every cell in your body, including those in
your brain. Vitamin D also plays a major role in neurotransmission. When you
have enough vitamin D in your body, it binds to vitamin D receptors located
throughout your body, thereby acting like a key that opens the proverbial door.
The vitamin D receptor
complex can go deep inside the DNA, where it recognizes the tell-tale sequence
of code that instructs the vitamin D receptor complex to either turn the gene
on (making it active) or off (making it inactive). Vitamin D is known to
regulate many genes, and vitamin D receptors are broadly expressed in the
brain.11 In addition, researchers explained in the Journal of Gerontology:12
“Vitamin D is a secosteroid
hormone necessary for maintaining good musculoskeletal health; its deficiency
is associated with increased risks of cardiovascular and neurodegenerative
diseases. Vitamin D is primarily synthesized in the skin upon exposure to
sunlight; smaller amounts are obtained through dietary intake. More recently,
enzymes responsible for the synthesis of its active form have been found to be
distributed throughout the human brain.
What’s the Best Way to
Optimize Your Vitamin D Level?
Ideally, get regular exposure
to the sun in short increments, gradually building up your time safely. As part
of my healthy sunbathing tips, I recommend building up your tolerance by
starting early in the spring, with as few as five minutes of exposure time, and
gradually increasing the time you spend in the sun to avoid getting burned.
Once your tolerance has been
built up, aim for 15 to 30 minutes of unprotected sun exposure four times per
week, around mid-day, to maximize vitamin D production and other benefits of
sun exposure. It’s nearly impossible to give any firm recommendations for how
long you need to stay in the sun to optimize vitamin D production, however, as
it varies greatly depending on a number of factors.
While sunlight is the ideal
way to optimize your vitamin D, winter and working indoors prevent more than 90
percent of those reading this article from achieving ideal levels. It’s
estimated, for instance, that nearly 42 percent of U.S. adults are vitamin D
deficient, and this is even higher in certain groups, including blacks (82
percent) and Hispanics (69 percent).15
People over the age of 50
also don't produce vitamin D as easily by metabolizing sunlight, and their
kidneys don't convert vitamin D into a form their body can use quite as
quickly, putting the elderly at heightened risk of deficiency as well.
A high-quality tanning bed is
your next best option, but if your circumstances don't allow you to access the
sun or a high-quality tanning bed, then you really only have one option if you
want to raise your vitamin D, and that is to take a vitamin D3 supplement. As a
general guideline, research by GrassrootsHealth suggests adults need about
8,000 IUs per day to achieve a serum level of 40 ng/ml. However, to find out
what dosage is best for you make sure to get tested, and take steps to optimize
your levels accordingly.
The vitamin D test you're
looking for is called 25(OH)D or 25-hydroxyvitamin D. This is the officially
recognized marker of overall D status and is most strongly associated with
overall health. The other vitamin D test available, called 1,25-dihydroxy vitamin
D (1,25(OH)D), is not very useful for determining vitamin D sufficiency.
If you do opt for a vitamin
D3 supplement, you also need to boost your intake of vitamin K2 through food
and/or a supplement, as well as continue to get your levels tested to be sure
you’re safely within the therapeutic range. Sensible sun exposure is the best
way to access this amazing nutrient.
Until next time, stay healthy and happy
JD Roma
The information on this blog is provided for educational
purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical care, and
medical advice and services are not being offered. If you have, or suspect you
have, a health problem you should consult your physician (preferably a
Naturopath).
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