PARKINSON’S RECOVERY AWARENESS MONTH
April is nominated as Parkinson’s Awareness Month, and media is inundated with posts, blogs, interviews and appeals for lots of money to find a “cure”. I have received endless emails and social media posts about the tragedy of Parkinson’s, the difficulty faced by those diagnosed, and more appeals for money so that clever scientists can find a “cure”.
I have enormous sympathy and empathy for those who face a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, and for family and friends of those diagnosed. I watched my Father and two close friends suffer through the medical process of diagnosis, medication and misery before I was faced with my own diagnosis in 1995.
The diagnosis and off-hand treatment by Neurologists angered me. I had worked hard since I was 16 years old (I was 52 at diagnosis), had some unfortunate life experiences, and had plans to improve my life. The diagnosis brought those plans crashing down – or so I thought.
With the help of my employer’s hospital library, overseas research and support from very open-minded health care practitioners (including a neuro surgeon and some marvellous General Practitioners), I became symptom-free by late 1998.
This enabled me to finished my naturopathic studies and set up what I thought would be a general health care practice. But, by the time I had welcomed my twentieth patient diagnosed with Parkinson’s, I realised that this was to be my main focus, along with related health challenges.
Through the ensuing 25 years of practice, study and research, I have developed great respect for those few medical professionals who deny the medical dogma of single cause, single medical cure, and have seen the wonderful research showing the causes of neurodegeneration and, therefore, disorders like Parkinson’s.
I have watched in awe as courageous people make “different” decisions about treating their diagnosed disorder and, through hard work and adventure, become well – free from symptoms.
The real tragedy of Parkinson’s disease is that those who claim to care most for us, or are recognised as “experts” in Parkinson’s or movement disorders, will not or cannot tell us that we CAN be well, that we CAN find our individual causes and reverse them.
This information is all “out there” – in libraries, text books, studies, research projects and online. But our “expert” health care professionals continue to insist that Parkinson’s means dead dopaminergic cells and any “cure” must include restoration of those cells along with functional support, even though medical research from many years ago has shown otherwise.
During April, there are a number of “Parkinson’s Summits” or conferences. I was keen to attend, but then I read the programs and the presenters’ details. Not one – NOT ONE – will explore the stories of those who have recovered from diagnosed Parkinson’s. Not one presenter will explore strategies and protocols for finding individual causes and reversal strategies. And yet all this information is available and should be broadcast to every one diagnosed with Parkinson’s.
It’s time for us to stand up and say ENOUGH, tell us the truth! We already know what causes neurodegeneration, inflammation and autoimmune triggers, so we KNOW what causes Parkinson’s disease.
I want to rename April as PARKINSON’S RECOVERY AWARENESS MONTH.
We have the knowledge, the media, the resources to spread the word to all 10,000,000 people around the world with a Parkinson’s diagnoses that they CAN help themselves, be helped and RECOVER.
Surely this is worthy of a new name for April.
April 11th is known as World Parkinson’s Day.
How about we name April 18th as WORLD PARKINSON’S RECOVERY DAY.
On April 11, people can find out about the doom and gloom associated with neurodegenerative disorders, the struggles for patients and families, the ponderings of Western Medical Science.
Then, just a week later, they can explore the Science of Health, Wellness and Recovery. Yes, it is Science – “the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation, experimentation, and the testing of theories against the evidence obtained.“
If just 10% of the $millions spent on “drug targets”, repurposing old drugs and developing new symptom-suppressing drugs was spent on further defining the causes of Parkinson’s and expanding the strategies and protocols for recovery, we could halve the incidence on Parkinson’s in 15 years.
Surely that is a cause worthy of a WORLD day.
My appeal during this PARKINSON’S RECOVERY AWARENESS MONTH 2024 is that we all – patients, families, practitioners, researchers and organisations - open our eyes and minds to the real possibilities of reversing the group of symptoms we call Parkinson’s Disease, and support a concerted effort to lead people to wellness, and develop strategies to prevent the onset of Parkinson’s for many.
Happy WORLD PARKINSON’S RECOVERY DAY.