What do you do when patients shuffle into your examining room and it is quite obvious that they have Parkinson's disease? Say you are sorry and give a referral to a local neurologist? Most of those are anxious to try some of the drugs offered to help control the irregular movement, the precarious balance, the shuffling gait, and rigid posture. We were taught to look for the "pill-rolling" motions of the hands.
No one knows the cause of Parkinson's disease, but it has now been established that the patients lack the key brain chemical, dopamine. This neurotransmitter is involved in a broad range of functions including movement and emotional responses. Ongoing research at the basic Science Center at the Oregon Health Sciences University are trying to unravel the complex electrical events in the dopamine-containing brain cells. The molecular pump -- the sodium pump -- may be at fault in this disease. It is supposed to maintain a gradient of high potassium/low sodium inside the cells, and a low potassium/high sodium outside the cells in the intercellular fluid. This ideal balance of these electrolytes allows for optimal nerve cell firing and consequent muscle control. If the pump fails, they found, sodium floods the cell. That nerve cell, so poisoned, cannot release dopamine to adjacent cells. Result: a short-circuit in the part of the brain that allows for jerk-free activity.
Dr. Vincent Seutin, a researcher at the OHSU, says "...dopamine-containing cells in a particular area of the brain degenerate, ... it may be caused by an electrical activity called excessive burst-firing and an inward rush of sodium ions. The electrical firing pattern is dependent on the sodium/potassium pump."
Another researcher, John Kitkoski, who has studied the blood chemistry of some of these Parkinson's disease people, finds that they do not have enough ionic calcium, the brain stem is demineralized, and they are usually alkaline. Alkalinity prevents the minerals from being soluble enough to help the enzymes do their job; in this case, allow the production of dopamine. His suggestion is to normalize the blood chemistry after finding the specific deviations from the mean in the complete blood analysis. These people will profit from the use of milk and electrolytes mixed half and half. They need acidification (he uses ammonium chloride). Many like vinegar if their sodium is high. Soluble minerals are helpful.
They are advised to avoid stress, of course. How do you do that when you cannot trust your body to keep you upright without a cane or gripping the railing?
Drugs to help control the dopamine in the brain must be titrated by a specialist in a hospital setting. But more than that, they need to be able to achieve chemical, electrolyte balance so they can make their own dopamine.
It is important to discover if these people had streptococcal infections as children. There seems to be a connection between milk drinking, strep infections, and tendency to alkalinity.
They need to have H+ ion put into their systems (become more acidic) and remove the OH- (reduce the alkalinity). Maybe balancing the minerals, the electrolytes, and the fluid in these people will help to control this miserable, debilitating problem and at the same time shed some light on the cause and its prevention. There are reasons for everything.
Lendon Smith, MD
Portland, Oregon
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