PD Summer School

This Week’s Highlights: The PD clinical trial that proves the power of placebo; My God, that’s a lot of basketball; Diagnosing PD by MRI; on-line PD exercise finder/directory; an awkward conversation about PD and male sexual health; and more ...

Please don’t try this first part at home... What if I told you that you could snort saline solution up your nose and it would significantly improve your Parkinson’s disease symptoms? When you inhale the solution, it will work better if you line down, and tilt your head back. Take your time, and release the solution a little bit at a time...at least over 5 minutes, and maybe as many as 10 minutes. And what if I told you that this has already been attempted in a clinical trial, and the improvements measured were clinically significant? There’s only one problem ...

Male sexual health is an awkward topic to discuss, but I feel compelled to share this, because for some people this information may be extremely helpful. One of the most unusual facts that I learned at PD Summer School last week is that men with Parkinson's are sometimes concerned about nocturnal and morning erections. It was explained that these are a normal occurrence, and that there is more cause for concern if you are not experiencing them. What? Well, let's start with why someone might be concerned about this issue in the first place. According to various studies, somewhere between ...

Last week, I spent the week at PD Summer School, a full week of Parkinson’s wellness education. Dr. Laurie Mischley has spent the last 2 decades studying lifestyle and nutrition factors associated with either slower (better) or faster (worse) progression of Parkinson’s disease. The goal is to identify and implement positive deviance strategies that can be used to slow Parkinson’s disease progression ...