A POTENTIAL CASE OF REMISSION OF PARKINSON'S DISEASE

July 10, 2016

A clinical study has published details of a 78 year old man who, despite having typical Parkinson's Disease, no longer has Parkinson's Disease symptoms.

Researchers have presented the case of a 78-year-old male who, 16 years ago, was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease by a neurologist. The patient initially presented with left-hand tremor, stooped posture, shuffling gait, and frequent falls, which eventually progressed to bilateral motor symptoms after 3 years.

However, since 2012, his symptoms and signs have almost completely remitted, and he has been off all pharmacotherapy for that time. The accuracy of the initial Parkinson's Disease diagnosis is supported by : an appropriate clinical presentation, history of positive response to Sinemet, and an abnormal SPECT DaT scan. This case therefore suggests the possibility of the remission of symptoms in some patients. The authors propose that the patient's long history of meditation may have been one of the contributing factors of his improvement because meditation has been shown to release dopamine.

Parkinson's Disease is primarily due to insufficient dopamine. There is a tendency for Parkinson's Disease symptoms to get gradually and progressively worse. However, dopamine levels, even in Parkinson's Disease, fluctuate continuously. There is therefore no reason why dopamine levels and therefore Parksinson's Disease can not improve.

Reference : Journal of Complementary Integrative Medicine [2016] [Epub ahead of print] (K.Smart, R.Durso, J.Morgan, P.McNamara)

Complete abstract : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27379905

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