Rethinking Parkinson's Disease

28/10/2024

40 YEARS AGO

October 30, 2024, marks the 40th anniversary of the Very Special Kids Inaugural Meeting.
The birth of VSK was fraught with opposition, lack of money, really hard work, frustration and tears, but also, more importantly, excitement, support and love.
1984 was a difficult year but, in the end, VSK was born and all the difficulties meant nothing because of our achievement.
This is the first time that the story has been told by someone who was there – one of the founders. It is a story with a happy ending.
Perhaps, after reading this, you will consider supporting my “other baby”.
https://www.returntostillness.com.au/post/40-years-ago-the-birth-of-very-special-kids

24/09/2024

PARKINSON’S DISEASE – CAUSES, RECOVERY & BOWEN

Here, below, is a link to a YouTube video of a short presentation delivered at the 2024 Bowen Therapists Federation of Australasia Conference in Hahndorf, South Australia, in August 2024.
I had only 40 minutes to cover 25 years of experience and research, so skipped through many parts.
If this video interests you and you want to know more, I am happy to email a PDF copy of the slides. Just email me on pdfree@bigpond.com. There is no charge.

“Celebrating those with vision, determination and courage”

Parkinson’s Disease is one of a cluster of diagnosable disease states considered progressive, degenerative and irreversible.
The Western Medical Model considers the causes to be largely unknown although there is extensive research into interim symptoms thought to be causes of diagnosed symptoms – for instance, single pathogenic bacteria in the gut, dysregulation of certain enzymes, etc.
In this presentation, we will discover the underlying causes of Parkinson’s and similar disorders; causes that have been known for decades but never medically associated with Parkinson’s.
We will explore ways to find the causes for each individual and how to develop recovery strategies.
We will discuss where Bowen fits into the journey from illness to wellness.
Along the way, we may meet some surprising heroes with vision, determination and courage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfkUlwGl8kU

25/07/2024

REVERSING PARKINSON’S DISEASE

Dr George Ackerman, founder of Together For Sharon, a Parkinson’s awareness organisation, was gracious enough to interview me for his podcast.
In a short time, we covered many topics including strategies to help us recover our health when diagnosed with Parkinson’s, my own story of recovery, and why mainstream Parkinson’s organisations won’t support research into recovery protocols or those who develop them.
Please forgive the untidy background and my less-than-formal attire, but I thought it was intended as a voice only broadcast. It was also very early morning, so I am chugging down Rooibos tea to give me the energy to chat with George.
Despite my looks and sleepiness, I hope you enjoy our conversation.

By August 1995, John Coleman had lost his power of speech and was wondering how he could go on living. Suffering symptoms of stage IV Parkinson’s disease an...

29/06/2024

Hello FB Friends.,
I might have been hacked so please don't open any friend requests.
I have updated my security.
Thank you :)

07/05/2024

SEMI RETIREMENT.

As my 81st birthday approaches in June 2024, I have spent time considering plans for my remaining years.

It has become clear that I can no longer continue to work full time, 5-6 days per week while preserving reasonable health.

I believe that my work is important; primarily for those diagnosed with Parkinson’s, similar degenerative disorders or stealth infections, but also for the Complementary Medicine community.

My latest book, “Rethinking Parkinson’s Disease” (published 2020) will, I believe, be a valuable resource for patients and practitioners for many years.

However, people with dire diagnoses and prognoses desire, and deserve, personal support from skilled, empathic practitioners.

I have now closed my books to new patients as I am fully booked through the rest of this year, and will slowly pull back from continuing patients when they no longer need my help.

I will continue to be active in promoting recovery from chronic disorders and can offer several services to support both potential patients and practitioners who share my philosophy of recovery:

1. Direct referral – if we receive an enquiry for treatment, we can refer directly to a practitioner who has demonstrated understanding and skill in guiding patients towards wellness by treating the underlying causes of neurodegenerative and autoimmune disorders;
2. Assess and Refer – for a small fee from the patient, I will spend time in discerning the underlying causes of the enquirers state of ill health, create a report with details of causes and a suggested treatment plan, and refer to the most appropriate practitioner;
3. I will continue to offer Mentoring Services for those practitioners who are willing to support patients diagnosed with neuro, autoimmune or chronic infectious disorders.
4. Practitioners wishing to upskill and enter this field, or students of naturopathy wishing to gain knowledge and skills in this area prior to graduation can receive training and mentoring on the causes of neurodegenerative disorders and strategies for recovery.

My hope is that there will be, in time, a network of enthusiastic and skilled practitioners around the globe to support those diagnosed with “incurable” disorders. I am sure you will understand that I feel comfortable referring potential patients only to those who are versed in the causes of and recovery from these disorders.

These services will, of course, only be available while I am alive and functioning as a semi-retired naturopath. After that, I trust that there will be a number of well-known practitioners to support peoples’ ambition to be well.

THE NEED
There are approximately 10 million people diagnosed with Parkinson’s around the world. In Australia, there are about 100,000.
Add to that people diagnosed with MSA, PSP and other “Parkinson’s Plus” illnesses, 30,000 people with MS plus other chronic autoimmune conditions and MND/ALS, etc, and the need is HUGE.
While I have focused primary on Parkinson’s, Parkinson’s Plus and MS, with stealth infections as one of the aetiological pathways, this is mainly because I am only one person.

Western Medicine, while it holds a valuable place in our community, offers only symptom control. I wish to leave a network of skilled practitioners who focus on reversing the underlying causes of these “incurable” disorders and assist people to recover their health.

If you are a qualified healthcare practitioner, or a patient with an interested practitioner providing care, and have interest in receiving mentoring and/or referrals from me, I will be pleased to discuss training and mentoring opportunities. You can email me on pdfree@bigpond.com or visit my updated website on https://www.returntostillness.com.au/.

18/04/2024

WORLD PARKINSON’S RECOVERY DAY

On this first World Parkinson’s RECOVERY Day, we can begin a broad and open discussion of the real needs of those diagnosed, moving beyond the fixation on “incurable”, medication, “must find a cure” dogma.
The notes below are part of a much broader document in “Rethinking Parkinson’s Disease” and may trigger discussion in the Parkinson’s and wider community so we can truly move towards wellness rather than waiting for “experts” to find a “cure”.

WHAT DO WE NEED NOW?

Vision
We need:
• to look beyond the selfishness and self-serving paradigm of cause-disease-cure to explore a broader concept of wellness creation becoming more powerful than disease creation and maintenance.

Research
We need:
• Untied and unbiased research into the known causes of Parkinson’s, shown to be:
o Trauma/stress that may be inherited, personal or social;
o Toxins from food, personal care, home care, industry or agriculture;
o Stealth infections.

Leadership
• Illness has celebrities dedicating themselves to improving lives of those living with Parkinson’s disease and ongoing research.
• We need people of this stature to promote the concept of wellness and to help raise funds for the research above.

Innovation
We need:
• a new look at evidence and new standards for evidence that promotes broad and real-life studies;
• new ways to interpret past and current trials that do not necessarily prove what is claimed;
• innovative ways to reach people at risk of neurodegeneration;
• new Centres of Excellence focusing on wellness strategies.

Discourse
We need:
• open and respectful conversations between Western allopathic medicine and Complementary/alternative medicine practitioners and researchers, exploring the
contribution that all forms of medicine and research can offer to people with Parkinson’s and those in the prodromal period;
• engagement of government agencies like the National Health and Medical Research Council in Australia, and similar bodies in other countries, with complementary/
alternative medicine practitioners and researchers as equal partners in the work to improve the health status of all people in our society;

Funding
• We need funding for genuine and clinically supported lifestyle and dietary prevention strategies that is untied.
• National governments have a responsibility to enhance the health of their constituents (a responsibility most governments neglect in favour of illness treatment) and must
allocate a much greater percentage of research funding to prevention research distant from vested interest, with guidance from Western allopathic medicine and complementary/
alternative medicine in equal measure.
• All governments should allocate at least one per cent of their health/illness budget each year to prevention research and education with equal voices from Western allopathic medicine and complementary/alternative medicine.

While these aims may seem Utopian, they are achievable if there are people of good will and determination who are prepared to be strong in the face of vigorous and, often, unjustifiable opposition.
We CAN achieve some or all of these needs if we all focus on wellness and illness prevention, talk openly to our Western allopathic medicine and Complementary/alternative medicine
practitioners, politicians and business leaders. One person is a whisper, a thousand people is a murmur, 100,000 people (1 per cent of those diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease) demand attention, and one million people constitute a roar that will be heard around
the world. It starts with you and me.

13/04/2024

Remember that 18 April is now declared WORLD PARKINSON'S RECOVERY DAY :)

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.

08/04/2024

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.