For those who care for someone with Parkinson's disease
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| I am still researching, but saw this mentioned in a few places. Seems there may be a link between the appendix and PD. No one is suggesting that having an appendectomy is a soltution or cure, but they agree there is a possible link...the PD and “gut” theory! |
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| Mom had her appendix out in '75, and was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2010...for whatever that's worth. |
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I don't see how this could cause PD or not cause. It is a neurological disease. |
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There could be a connection. What it is (if it is) may not be entirely clear yet. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-parkinsons-begin-in-the-gut/ |
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| P.D. and the gut theory has been around for a few years. It catches popularity cyclically or seems to run it's cycle then peter out for awhile. We know that P.D. is caused by lack of dopamine in our brain. We know the cells are dying and those dopamine producing cells continue to die off. What we need to know to get to a cure is what is killing those cells and if our bodies can somehow restart manufacturing these dopamine cells. We the Parkinson's community must not lose sight of this, it is a neurological disease. Unless discussion of a cure or even cause then the neurological component must also be discussed and addressed . |
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| Al, while you know I always defer to you, I always try to research suggestions that may lead to a breakthrough. I agree wholeheartedly that we can never forget PD is a neurological disease, it seems that it might begin in other areas of the body...who knows? I never claim to know more than scientists or doctors, and neither do you, but research which may lead to a better understanding of PD should be allowed to go forward. The goal of all the research should be to find a cause, then a cure...if only it were easy. |
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| I agree with jcoff012. We don't fully understand the cause or causes, but being a neurological disease doesn't preclude a cause that starts in the gut. But I also agree with Al's sentiment that we should be cautious and skeptical, and not jump to conclusions...which is very easy to do when we are very impatient to get new info or find a "breakthrough". Maybe there WILL be a breakthrough someday, and it will be generally one cause. Or maybe it will be many different causes, or 2-3-4-5 causes that work in tandem in some as yet unknown way. Since we don't have conclusive evidence, we have to follow all leads. To me, the info surrounding the gut is anomalous. That seems like a lead. Maybe it will go no where. In the mean time, we still have to follow it. |
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Some people think that sprays may be causing PD. My husband was a crop farmer and used sprays for the field, plus sprayed the weeds or grass around the farm with a hand spray. He never wore a mask. However, this isn't always the case as other farmers, including fruit farmers spray their trees and they don't necessarily get PD. |
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Mom worked packing and sorting apples for years--all sprayed with pesticides (I can still remember the vaguely apple smell on her coat when she came home after work, but there was another smell too that puzzled me as a child--it doesn't puzzle me anymore). The hypothesis there seems to be that some people may be genetically susceptible to PD, and something in the environment (like pesticides) may trigger it. If nothing triggers it, the person doesn't get PD. That would explain why some people exposed to some substances seem to have higher rates of PD, while some people in that very same group never develop PD. (As far as I have read, there is no conclusive evidence for this, however. It's a hypothesis that fits much of the data we do have.) ... I've also read that head trauma can lead to Parkinson's (I assumed that was true of Mohammad Ali, but I may be wrong). They did ask mom when she was diagnosed if she ever remembered hitting her head, even when she was a child. Of course, she couldn't remember, and none of her family could remember either. But who hasn't hit their head fairly hard at some point in their lives? ... It may well be that there are many causes of PD, or instances where 2-3-4-5 causes may be needed in certain people to trigger it, etc. We tend to want to think about it simplistically and think there is only one cause. My educated guess from reading and from observing mom's symptoms over the last decade is that this disease, when understood far better than it is today, will turn out to be very complex in causes. |