Given the questions people are asking on social media, about what to do now that they’ve been diagnosed with Parkinson’s, I thought it would be of value to list the most important things I’m doing to recover my health. I have been living with the symptoms of PD for 22 years, the first 16, without medication, and I’ve learned a great deal along the way.
I am taking medication in the form of levodopa/carbidopa [Sinemet], but PD medications, as we know, do not contribute to recovery. It is possible though that the meds might slow the progression of the disease by reducing the amount of time we spend each day in a stressful state, although this may be partially offset by the wear-off withdrawal that occurs each time the meds are taken.
What is more, the amount of meds I take lasts about four and a half hours a day, which means I am off meds approximately twelve and a half hours of my waking day; by far, the largest part of my day. So, I am heavily motivated to find a way to recover my health, particularly when you consider the extremely unpleasant wear-off withdrawal effect which for me happens twice daily.
Most of the things I do are meant to minimize stress. Others are meant to minimize the symptoms I experience. Here’s what I’m doing:
I pay close attention to my thoughts: Chronic stress, in my experience, is the primary cause of PD. Stress is created by negative thoughts, so it stands to reason that minimizing negative thoughts reduces stress. For me, this requires constant diligence. Being in the Parkinson’s state means being in a constant state of stress and anxiety because cortisol [the stress hormone] is constantly flooding my brain and body. This, in turn, influences my thought patterns, causing them to be mostly negative which creates more stress. It’s a vicious circle. Repeating mantras and prayers helps me break the negative thoughts cycle.
I exercise throughout the day: I think it is really important to stay active, especially if it is done joyfully. Movement stimulates the release of dopamine, endorphins and other feel-good neurotransmitters and hormones. My primary daily exercise is power-walking. If I’m not power-walking, it’s because I’m playing golf or shoveling snow or splitting and stacking firewood. I also do pushups daily and stomach-crunches, weights and jumping-jacks two or three times a week.
I meditate: Focusing on my breath, through meditation, helps me minimize stress. No stress means the Central Nervous System is in the parasympathetic [calm] state, which means it is producing feel-good neurotransmitters and hormones. This slows the progression of PD.
I practice qigong and I do breathwork: for the same reasons I meditate.
I spend time in the forestor at the lake: for the same reasons I meditate. Putting my hands on trees and dangling my legs in the water is very calming.
I practice grounding: walking in bare feet on the grass is both soothing and therapeutic. I actually walk more fluidly when I’m bare-footed.
I eat healthy foods: eating healthy foods promotes gut health which strengthens the immune system [80% of the immune system is situated in the mucosal lining of the gastro-intestinal tract]. What is more, the digestive system is directly connected to the brain via the Vagus nerve, so gut health has a direct affect on the health of our neurons and neurotransmitters.
I take supplements: mainly to strengthen my immune system [Vit D, Vit C, zinc], minimize skin rash [Vit E] and minimize constipation [Vit C, magnesium-citrate].
I take CBD oil: I take CBD oil three times a day. While it doesn’t seem to prevent me from experiencing anxiety, I think it helps with sleep and I haven’t had a panic attack since I started taking it daily in 2019.
I do bodywork: mainly to reduce tension, trembling and the risk of choking. I did Body Stress Relief for four years, then switched to chiropractic for seven years and now I’m doing Thai Massage.
I am learning Estonian, I write and I play sudoku: learning creates new neurons and neural pathways. It stimulates brain health.
I repeat mantras, prayers and my values: for the same reasons I meditate.
I do energy healing: to purge my energy field of fear, anxiety and other detrimental emotions and beliefs that are keeping me in a stressful state. I believe energy healing offers me the best hope for recovery.
I ‘imagine’: Alex Loyd, author of TheHealing Code, says that when you imagine, you connect with your heart, which is a very powerful way to manifest. So, I will say, “Imagine what it will feel like when I can walk with a fluid stride,” or “Imagine what it will feel like when I can drive myself to visit my kids and my grandchildren.”
I help others: I help others mainly through my blog and through my energy healing practice. Helping others releases dopamine and endorphins.
I maintain a daily spiritual practice: I read spiritual books and watch spiritual videos. I spend time in nature and recite spiritual mantras. I live a spiritual life.
Detrimental beliefs. It’s not something your doctor or neurologist are likely to discuss with you, let alone, treat. And yet, they play an important role in the development of disease, including Parkinson’s.
I recently finished rereading, The Healing Code, by Alex Loyd. In the book, Loyd says, at the root of all discord, including illness, is stress, and in order to dissolve stress, you need to change your beliefs.
Understanding what beliefs are at the root of whatever health condition we are experiencing is a significant challenge because quite often these beliefs are established early in our childhood?
There are nine core beliefs:
I’m not loved
I’m not loveable
I’m unworthy/non-deserving
I’m inadequate/not good enough
I am powerless
I am unwanted
I am unacknowledged
I am unappreciated
I am unaccepted
Within these core beliefs are a multitude of beliefs that can affect our health. Some personal beliefs include: I am a bad boy. I should be ashamed of myself. I deserve to be horse-whipped.
It’s our beliefs that cause us to become sick because they affect our thoughts and feelings. They determine how we feel going in to certain situations. Are we scared or are we confident? Do we feel good about ourselves or do we feel bad about ourselves? And, in turn, they affect our neurology. Are we producing feel-good neurotransmitters and hormones, like dopamine, or are we producing stress hormones, such as, cortisol?
Detrimental beliefs become really destructive when we personalize them: for example, when, “I did something bad,” becomes, “I am a bad boy.” Or, in my case, when, “I disappointed my parents,” became, “I am a disappointment.” This latter belief would have been doubly destructive for someone who is a people-pleaser … which I am.
These harmful beliefs put is in a constant state of distress; a constant state of fight-flight-freeze; where our bodies are constantly full of cortisol; which leads to disease.
How then do we dissolve faulty beliefs. We do so through:
Awareness and understanding
Forgiveness
Understanding the higher purpose and meaning of the detrimental belief
Energy healing
The first step in overcoming faulty beliefs is being aware of them. It seems a rather obvious statement to make, but how many people have this awareness? Heck, even though I’ve been aware of the role of detrimental beliefs for several years, it wasn’t until recently that I understood that one of them was, ‘I am a disappointment,’ and how it was affecting my life and contributing to the Parkinson’s symptoms I experience.
Step two, is forgiveness. It has been said that forgiveness is freedom from suffering. There is a wounded inner-child who believes they’ve done something wrong, and because of it, also believes they are unloved. We need to forgive this child. We also need to forgive those who have harmed us. Forgiveness begins with the understanding that we exhibit all kinds of detrimental behavior when we grow up feeling unloved, and when we grow up spiritually unconscious, and it is completed when we understand that everyone is doing the best they can with what they’ve learned.
Step three involves understanding that faulty beliefs are a necessary part of the human experience. They serve a purpose. They create suffering, and I believe this suffering is meant to guide us to spiritual awakening and a more meaningful, compassionate, loving way of living.
Step four, for me, involves energy healing. Awareness and forgiveness, depending on how powerful the belief is, may not be enough to dissolve it, in which case, energy healing may be beneficial. Some effective forms of energy healing include: Emotional Freedom Technique [EFT], One Brain Therapy [OBT] and The Healing Codes. I have developed my own process after being trained in OBT.
If you are experiencing a chronic illness, it is highly likely that faulty beliefs are at the root of it, and dissolving these beliefs could lead to your recovery!
When I am going through a particularly challenging or stressful time, like I am at the moment, I sometimes find it more challenging to stand up. Whether I’m getting out of a chair, out of bed or off the toilet, it can be equally difficult.
But like all other Parkinson’s-related challenges I have encountered, there is a solution.
The solution in this case is a simple technique that popped into my head recently. It’s one of the reasons I have started referring to my experience with Parkinson’s as, Parkinson’s Boot Camp. It’s not a whole lot of fun and there is a lot of adversity, but there is so much to learn, accomplish and overcome.
The technique is as follows:
I swing my hands out to the side, palms facing up. Then I swing both arms up in the air, fully extended. Then I roll my hands over so that my palms are facing downward. Next, I bring my hands downward. Then I repeat the process at least two more times. Then I bring my hands in to my chest and shoot them straight out as fast as I can, one to three times. Then I quickly stand up.
The first part of the technique is a qigong technique called energy from heaven, or energy from the universe. It seems to have a calming effect. The second part is a simple speed technique. The purpose of the combined technique is to stimulate a dopamine release. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter which is produced in the substantia nigra in the brain and is involved in movement. A lack of dopamine is thought to be at the root of the symptoms of Parkinson’s. Combining the qigong technique with the speed technique seems to stimulate enough of a dopamine release to enable me to stand up. When standing up, I find it beneficial bring my chest as close to my thighs as possible while shooting my hands out towards the floor.
You may have to try the technique a couple of times to get the hang of it, but it definitely helps.
As I discussed in my previous post, I am focusing these days on energy healing and raising my vibrational frequency.
I’m still meditating, power-walking, spending time in nature, practicing qigong, doing push-ups, eating healthy, taking supplements, etc. These things are important for my mental health and slowing the progression of the symptoms I experience, but I’m not sure how much they contribute to reversing the symptoms. Full recovery, I think, is more dependent on changing the personality and dissolving the faulty beliefs that are keeping me in the chronic fear-state that created the symptoms in the first place.
Years ago, I learned a short mantra for protecting myself from dark energies. Recently, it struck me, that I could expand this mantra and use it to cultivate healing through the power of love … sounds like a Huey Lewis song … to augment the energy healing I’m already doing every day.
From an energy standpoint, love is at the high end of the spectrum, while fear is at the low end. Fear is at the root of Parkinson’s, so alchemizing fear into love should, in theory, lead to healing.
Robert Rodgers talks about vibrational frequencies in his book, The Road to Recovery from Parkinson’s Disease. He affirms that disease can’t exist in a high frequency environment.
The mantra, or script, I have developed to accomplish healing is as follows:
I am divine love. Love is within me. Love moves throughout me. Love surrounds me. Love protects me. Love emanates from every aspect of my Being. Love elevates my vibrational frequency. Love heals me. Love energizes me. Love enables me to be at peace with my past. Love enables me to be content with my present situation. Love enables my body to be calm. Love enables me to walk fluidly. Love enables me to be steady on my feet. Love enables me to live with divine enthusiasm. I am divine love.
I repeat the entire manta or sections of it several times a day.
I recognize that at the moment, these are just thoughts … suggestions … and that it may take time for these thoughts to become beliefs, and more time still for them to manifest in changes to my health and physical body. I’m attempting to change a lifetime of negative thought patterns and faulty beliefs, so it may take some time.
In the meantime, I love energy work and I really believe in it.
I recently decided to change the focus of my quantum energy healing practice … which I covered a few blog posts back … from dissolving fear, to cultivating and immersing myself in love; in other words, move towards what I want [love and good health], rather than moving away from what I don’t want [fear and the symptoms of PD]. In so doing, I am adhering to the principles of ‘the law of attraction.’ The law of attraction says that whatever you place your attention on is what you are most likely to manifest, even if it is something you don’t want. It’s like the family that moves out of the city because they fear being a victim of a crime, only to become the victim of a crime while living in the country.
I was inspired to take this approach after reading, The Untethered Soul, by Michael Singer. It’s one of the three most important books I’ve read … along with, A New Earth, by Eckhart Tolle, and Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life, by Wayne Dyer. In the book, Singer emphasizes opening the heart in order to fill it with love.
Changing my focus and intention means changing my energy healing script. My new script is as follows:
I call on my inner-self and all of the spirit healers who are supporting me on my journey, to assist me in engaging the healing energy of the universal-energetic-intelligence, in order to raise my vibrational frequency, open up my heart so that I can fill it with love, live with a personality that is rooted in a state of unconditional enthusiasm, strengthen my immune system and enable me to actualize and activate my divine birthright to live in excellent health, with a physical body that is in homeostasis and a Central Nervous System that is predominantly in the parasympathetic, or calm, state, because my thoughts, beliefs and emotions are predominantly positive and beneficial. And I thank you for this healing: for I am divine love, love is within me, love moves throughout me, love surrounds me, love protects me, love emanates from every aspect of my being, I am divine love.
This hasn’t changed my assertion that energy healing offers me the best opportunity for recovery. Rather, it has strengthened my resolve and belief. It’s like I had to explore the ‘healing fear’ approach first in order to understand its ineffectiveness.
This new intention and revised script can actually be used to address any health condition, be it a neurological disorder, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, anxiety, migraine headaches, autoimmune disease, etc., because the emphasis is on manifesting good health.
Even with this focus on cultivating love, there is still the need to purge the fear energy which is being released from my subconscious memory, muscle facia and cell memory. I don’t want to repeat the experience I had in 2018 with Bowen Therapy when I experienced panic attacks due to a build up of cortisol and fear. To clear the fear, I use the following script:
I call on the four archangels [Raphael from the east, Michael from the south, Gabrael from the west and Urael from the north] to assist me in giving over to the healing energy of the universal-energetic-intelligence, all of the fear energy that is trapped within my energy field so that it can be transmuted into divine love and released from my energy field, and I give thanks for this energetic cleansing.
While I believe energy-work offers me the best opportunity for recovery, and I do it every day, I am still power-walking, doing pushups and spending time in nature everyday. I’m also still eating healthy foods, getting a good nights sleep. meditating, practicing breathwork and qigong, writing, learning Estonian and keeping my brain sharp with sudoku.
Wishing everyone good health and a Happy New Year!
This Parkinson’s experience never ceases to astonish and perplex me, for so many reasons, including a recent puzzling experience with the medication I take. Let me give you the back-story on this.
My son recently came up to Manitoulin Island from southern Ontario for a visit and I hitched a ride with him back down south to spend a couple of days with my daughters and their families. I spent a couple of days with my middle daughter, Tahni, who is on maternity leave, her husband, Jake, and their children, four year old, Lakelyn and, seven month old, Tian.
I then spent a night with my oldest, daughter, Jenna, her husband, Doug, and their children, three year old, Levine, and seventeen month old, Kinley. I discovered on the drive to Jenna’s that both Levine and Kinley had come down with the flu that morning. Kinley had thrown up twice at daycare, and both parents were leaving work early to rescue their kids. By the time I left Jenna’s the following day, Doug was also down with the flu.
Back home the next morning I woke up feeling fine, and was fine all day. Then, after dinner, the flu hit me like a freight train. I felt horrible, although I didn’t throw up, and I went to bed early. I awoke the next morning feeling much better, but this is when things got strange. My morning meds [200 mg of levodopa] took an hour and a half longer than normal to kick-in, and they wore-off in an hour and a half; usually they last three hours. Then, the second dosage [200 mg of levodopa], which I take from time-to-time, took over two hours to take effect, but lasted the normal three hours. My evening meds [100 mg] didn’t kick-in at all.
Then, the next day, I repeated the back-to-back dosages of the previous day. This time, the first dosage kicked-in in thirty minutes, the typical time, but my follow-up dosage took an hour and a half to kick in. Then my evening dosage didn’t kick-in again.
The next morning, I woke up feeling slightly fluish and my morning meds took a half hour longer than normal to take effect. After that, my morning meds kicked in a half hour, as usual, but my evening dosage didn’t kick-in at all. In fact, my evening dosage failed to kick five out of six evenings.
This is very peculiar and puzzling.
The only information I could find on-line on this issue was on the AI website, ChatGPT. According to ChatGPT, the flu does not adversely affect PD meds, although it can worsen certain symptoms, such as, fatigue. ChatGPT also says that the flu can cause elevated stress which can lead to elevated cortisol levels. I’m guessing these elevated cortisol levels did indeed disrupt the absorption and or onset of the levodopa.
So, it appears evident that the delay in the meds taking effect had something to do with me coming down with the flu. I suspect that my body was full of cortisol from the flu and this disrupted the onset of the meds.
I don’t recall covid disrupting the onset of my meds, although, the PD symptoms I experience were definitely worse following covid, and have remained so.
There was one other after-effect from the flu. I had five days of continuous acid reflux. I took baking soda to neutralize the acid reflux, which gave me temporary relief. Again, the only information I could find on-line on this issue was on ChatGPT, which said while there is no direct evidence indicating that the flu causes acid reflux with people with PD, it did indicate that flu causes stress and this stress can trigger acid reflux.
I am curious to know if anyone has had a similar experience with the flu and the PD meds you take, or acid reflux.
What’s the real root cause of Parkinson’s? After first being identified as a health condition over 200 years ago the medical establishment has yet to determine the root cause. They speculate that chemical toxicity could be the cause in some cases and that genetics could also be a factor.
In my case, I’m pretty certain that I know the cause: a lifetime of living in a perpetual state of fear, worry, stress and anxiety. Living in a constant state of fear, means your body is in a perpetual state of fight-flight-freeze, which means it is constantly producing the stress hormones, cortisol and adrenalin, while shutting down the production of the feel-good neurotransmitters and hormones, like dopamine.
Living in a constant state of stress started in my childhood. I grew up in a culture of fear: fear of punishment at home; fear of getting the strap or beaten up at school; fear of our Grade 1/2 teacher who was an abusive bully; fear of getting beaten up in the neighborhood. That I was a rambunctious, covertly-rebellious child who was constantly in trouble didn’t help matters. It seemed like I was constantly looking over my shoulder hoping not to get punished for one thing or another.
It appears this childhood and adolescent angst all came to a head the summer I turned eighteen years of age when I embarked on a mission of self-destruction. I got drunk every night for six straight weeks. The only reason I stopped was because I had some sort of neurological breakdown. In retrospect, I believe it was triggered by a panic attack. Although my memory is a little hazy, I do recall that it left me feeling out of sorts, uneasy and unable to think clearly. It lasted for two weeks. During this time, I was unable to consume alcohol. Eventually, I started to feel better and I resumed drinking regularly.
This was the first of four such events. Before I get to the other three, there were other factors that contributed to my troubled mind and detrimental emotional state, at that time. First, I had two severe concussions: the first occurred at age twelve while playing hockey. I was hospitalized for a week. The second occurred at age seventeen, the result of a bicycling mishap. I was hospitalized for three days.
I also had a significant emotional trauma at age sixteen from the sudden death of my best friend from leukemia. I never grieved his loss and I never talked to anyone about it.
I was also experiencing severe acne that really embarrassed and humiliated me. I don’t recall at what age it started, but it lasted well in to my twenties. It really did a number on my self-esteem.
Acne wasn’t the only reason I felt self-conscious. I wasn’t very muscular and I was always afraid of being teased or beaten up.
Finally, I was having a very difficult relationship with my father. He was a straight-laced police officer and I was a rebellious teenager, and we were constantly at loggerheads.
Was this the beginning of the life experiences that would eventually lead me to developing the symptoms of PD? Possibly, although it is probable that if this was the extent of my traumatic experiences, I likely would not have developed the condition. There was, however, more to come.
The year I turned nineteen, my girlfriend … who I was seriously in love with … got pregnant, and terminated the pregnancy and our relationship. I was heartbroken and I swore that I would never let that happen again.
Later that year, my relationship with my father deteriorated to the point where he told me to leave home, which I did. I hated my father for several years after that. Eventually we started talking again, although we never talked about that situation.
The second event occurred a year later, at age twenty. I was home from university for Christmas break following a week of intense studying and exams. I spent the first week at home drinking heavily and partying hard. I was particularly hungover at work one morning, and I threw up and went home. At dinnertime, after spending the day on the living room sofa, I was suddenly overcome with a strange sensation that scared the bejeepers out of me [I think I had another panic attack] and I was crying and feeling totally messed up. My family was having dinner and my parents called our family doctor, who came to our house [yes, doctors made house calls in those days] a couple of hours later. By this time, I was feeling better, and although I don’t recall what the doctor said, he declared me okay and didn’t prescribe anything. Like the first incident, I felt out of sorts for a couple of weeks, abstained from drinking during this time, then started to feel better, and resumed drinking [nobody ever accused me of exercising common sense].
The third incident happened a year later, but before I get to it, I must mention two major disappointments I experienced at that time. Both were childhood aspirations. From as young as I can remember, I wanted to do two things when I grew up: become a veterinarian or a professional hockey player. It became readily apparent about this time that I did not have the skills to play hockey professionally. To add salt to the wound, I also missed out on an opportunity to play in the Canadian university championship game … of my own doing. Two weeks after being cut from the varsity team, on the second last day of training camp, the assistant manager came to my dorm room to invite me back to the team. Still seething from being cut, I told him I wasn’t interested; a decision I regretted for a long time when the varsity team played in the national championship game on national television.
At about the same time, I was eligible to apply for entrance in to the veterinary college, but I had neither the grades or the interest in becoming a veterinarian. Both of my childhood dreams ended at about the same time … both of my own doing … that left me without a meaningful purpose. I would spend the next twenty years trying to figure out what I wanted to do.
In the summer of 1976, my roommate from university was in a serious automobile accident that left him in a vegetative state. I saw him in the hospital the day after the incident and was so freaked out by his condition that I never went back. I have no idea what became of him.
The third incident happened in December, 1976, following a week of mid-terms and a weekend of heavy drinking. I was driving back to university when I was suddenly overcome by that same feeling that had hit me a year earlier. Again, in looking back, I think it was a panic attack. I pulled over to the side of the road and waited for about twenty minutes for the feeling to pass. The next morning, I woke up in a mental fog. I couldn’t think straight, read the newspaper or follow the conversation … and this condition never went away.
The fourth incident happened a year and a half later. I was home from university, living by myself, while working to pay for my final year of school. I had been out late partying the night before and woke up with a really bad hangover. A friend picked me up and we went to a restaurant for breakfast. After that, we went to another friend’s place, where we smoked some marijuana. Shortly after smoking the dope, I ‘freaked’ out. I told my friend to take me to the hospital because I thought I was going to die. On the way to the hospital, I changed my mind and asked my friend to take me home. At home, I spent the next six hours walking from the kitchen door, through the house to the far corner of my bedroom, and back again. Back and forth, back and forth, for six hours, before I started to feel better. I didn’t touch marijuana for many years after that incident.
It was also many years later before I figured out that during each of these four incidents, I had had a panic attack.
I spent the next fourteen years trying to figure out what was wrong with me. I saw a long list of specialists and natural health practitioners, to no avail. [One of the doctors I saw at university referred to what I was experiencing as a “brain fog.”] Over this time, the brain fog got progressively worse and I started developing migraine headaches.
At one point in the early 80s, I figured out that I felt better when I didn’t eat sweets or drink alcohol. I gave both up for a month and definitely felt better, but eventually went back to both.
Also, in the early 80s, I saw a dentist for only the second time in fifteen years. He removed all four of my wisdom teeth and filled eleven others, with amalgam fillings … which I assume contained mercury.
In 1990, we were in a serious automobile collision. I was driving my middle daughter to a birthday party outside of town, when we were struck from behind by a pickup truck doing 80 kilometers an hour. There were three other kids in the car. My one year old son, who was in a car seat directly behind me, suffered a broken leg, while the other two kids suffered whiplash and a badly damaged ankle. My daughter was unscathed, while I had a serious case of whiplash and the worst headache of my life.
Three weeks after the collision, I had a piece of birthday cake at work and didn’t feel good for three days afterwards. Two weeks later, I had another bad reaction to a piece of cake, again feeling sick for three days. That’s when I realized that it was the cake that was making me sick. Then I started reacting to everything. Milk and processed meats would make me feel sick. Bread would make me feel sleepy. Nuts would make me feel like my head was in a vice. So, I started eliminating all these foods. I got to the point where I could only eat vegetables, brown rice and steamed chicken or fish. Over the next two years, I lost thirty pounds. People thought I had cancer. Also during this time, the brain fog I was experiencing got worse. Then one day, I was driving in to work listening to a talk show. The guest was an allergy specialist, and he kept listing off various conditions and I kept saying, “That’s me, that’s me.”
Also, by this time, I was experiencing three to four migraine headaches a week.
In 1992, I was referred to a natural health practitioner, who practiced Touch for Health. On my first visit, he did some muscle testing and balancing and the next day I felt much better. On my second visit, he muscle tested and balanced me for various food sensitivities. Two days later, I was able to eat all the foods with no reaction. I was elated.
Unfortunately, it didn’t last. Eventually, I started reacting to all the foods again. I went through this cycle of becoming balanced, then unbalanced for about ten months, before concluding that I wasn’t getting anywhere.
Then in 1993, I was referred to a massage therapist. At the time, I was midway through my karate training to become a Black Belt and I was facing the prospect of having to give it up. Every joint in my body was a mess. It was like every injury I had had growing up playing hockey and baseball came back on me.
Jan, the massage therapist, was gifted in so many ways. Her practice was rooted in spirituality and she took me on a spiritual journey that would change my life. She also referred me to a One Brain Therapy practitioner which would further change my life. OBT is based on the premise that all forms of discord … health, relationship, career and financial issues … are rooted in unresolved emotional trauma.
I was so taken with OBT, that I trained in the therapy so I could practice it myself. Eventually, I developed my own technique; something I intuited while long distance running.
By the late 90s, I noticed that I was feeling more brain fog and anxiety at work, especially during meetings and presentations.
Then, in 2002, I noticed that I had lost my sense of taste and smell. A year later, I started losing control of my left leg while long distance running. Then, in 2006, the index finger of my left hand started trembling one night while I was teaching karate. Two years later, I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s.
Something that has always intrigued me is that I started developing the symptoms of Parkinson’s at a time when there were so many good things going on in my life. I was training and teaching karate, which I loved. I was learning to play the guitar, which I loved. I was enjoying spending time with my kids. On the other hand, I was unhappy at work and with my marriage, and had been for several years, with both.
Also, in looking back I realized that I had consumed a lot of diet pop, foods laced with msg and headache remedies. The last time I drank a diet cola [sometime in the 90s], I had a headache before I was finished the drink, and the last time I had a diet pop, I had a stomach ache before I was finished.
Also, in looking back, I realized that I was extremely uptight, self-conscious and angry much of my life. I also lived recklessly and in fear. Since my aspirations of being a veterinarian or pro hockey player had fizzled out, I had lived without a clear sense of direction or purpose.
These are the highlights of my life as it relates, I believe, to me developing the symptoms of PD.
In conclusion, I believe I developed the symptoms of PD due to several factors. First, I grew up in a culture of fear due to life at home, at school and in the neighborhood. Second, there were the head traumas; unresolved emotional traumas, poor diet, stress and excessive alcohol consumption and unresolved disappointments during my teen and early-adult years. Third, were the years of poor diet, excessive alcohol consumption, unhappiness. Fourth, I lived in chronic, life-long fear, uptightness, being unsure of myself and self-consciousness. Fifth, I have certain personality traits, such as, being a people-pleaser and being reluctant to speak up. Sixth, there is the possibility of early-life traumas and neglect that I was too young to remember, and possible unknown genetic factors. Finally, there is the possibility of neurological poisoning from DDT exposure, mercury dental fillings and other chemical exposures. Now, show me a pill I can take for all that.
In my experience, Parkinson’s is extremely complex in its origin, its symptoms and its recovery protocol. You can talk to ten different people and get ten different stories relating to the possible cause and the symptoms. This is my story. If you find some benefit or solace from reading it, great. If it brings you better understanding of your own experience, terrific. I think the more we share, the more we have to gain, collectively.
As for the theory that chemical toxicity is the primary cause, why does it take so long after exposure for the symptoms to begin, and even then, why do they kick-in gradually. And why isn’t the medical community advocating detox protocols. I just don’t by it. If chemical toxicity is the cause, then surely all my brothers would have Parkinson’s because we’ve all been exposed to the same chemicals. It is possible that chemical toxicity is a contributing factor for some people, but I don’t believe it is the sole cause, or even the primary cause.
Ever since I experienced covid in May of this year, I have been waking up in the morning in a state of discomfort, ranging from mild discomfort to outright pain. I have also been experiencing more intense tension and trembling than normal and I am more prone to think about things that cause me stress and anxiety. I think this is due to the presence of too much cortisol, the stress hormone, coupled with a lack of dopamine, the neurotransmitter associated with movement.
The discomfort is usually situated in the back of my neck, my upper or lower back and or my hips.
I think there are four reasons for this:
I have a general deficiency of dopamine … one of the feel-good neurotransmitters.
Our natural, baseline cortisol levels are highest during the early hours of the morning, in order to wake us up and get us moving. Cortisol is the stress hormone.
When I wake up in the morning, it is typically ten to twelve hours since the previous evening’s levodopa wore off, so I have been that long with a deficiency of dopamine and an excess of cortisol.
This lack of dopamine combined with high levels of cortisol is putting my central nervous system in the Sympathetic [fight-flight] state; the distressed state.
An obvious solution would simply be to take some levodopa as soon as I wake up. The problem with this is that I only take meds twice a day and it would mean there would be a nine hour gap between my morning and evening doses. I don’t want to change my medication routine.
Another option would be to get out of bed and get moving because as soon as I get out of bed, the pain goes away. This is because movement stimulates the release of dopamine. The challenge with this is that I generally wake up an hour or more before Mari and I like to lay in bed while the house is quiet doing meditation, energy healing, reciting mantras, cultivating insights and generating ideas for the books I’m writing. What is more, Mari is a light sleeper and it doesn’t take much noise to awaken her.
Lately, I’ve gotten to the point where I just can’t find a comfortable position to lay in for any length of time without experiencing discomfort or pain. Thankfully, meditation and energy healing does give me temporary relief. As does propping up the pillows and sitting up.
It seems the ultimate solution cortisol is pushing me towards, is to get out of bed and get moving; do what is supposed to come naturally. It’s a conundrum.
Theoretically, meditation should put the central nervous system in the parasympathetic [calm] state, but it’s possible that the naturally heightened early morning levels of cortisol combined with the PD-related deficiency of dopamine are blocking my attempt to meditate my way into the parasympathetic state. Definitely a conundrum.
For now, I’m going to continue to focus on meditation and energy healing as a way to minimize the discomfort as best I can and see where it leads me.
Freezing is a common symptom of Parkinson’s. These days, it is the most troubling symptom I experience. I think freezing is the result of a perception of danger followed by a massive release of cortisol … the stress hormone … and a corresponding shut-down of dopamine … the neurotransmitter that governs movement.
I experience freezing in two ways:
My feet are stationary and I have a difficult time moving one foot or the other.
I am walking somewhere and in mid-stride, I am unable to complete the stride and take a full step. This usually happens when I see something that I perceive as an obstacle … a hazard.
Freezing is akin to a deer browsing in the forest. Suddenly it hears a sound and it freezes. There is a sudden rush of cortisol. It perks up it’s ears, looks in the direction of the sound and remains motionless. When it decides there is no threat, it relaxes, causing a release of GABA [calm] and dopamine [movement], and it continues browsing.
Experiencing freezing while stationary is bothersome, but generally easy to overcome. The simplest thing to do, is put something on the floor and step over it to get started. If I am standing at the kitchen counter, I will quickly bend my knees, turn sideways and take a step.
Experiencing freezing mid-stride is far more troublesome and more likely to result in a fall.
When I experience freezing in mid-stride, one of three things happens:
I am able to catch myself, and I stop.
I go into a high-speed stutter-step, and I am able to stop myself … although, it frightens me so much, it sends me into an immediate rage.
I lose my balance and stumble or fall forward.
The single most effective way to minimize freezing, is to stagger my feet. Whether I’m walking or standing still, as long as I am able to stagger my feet, I don’t experience freezing.
Interestingly, I never experience freezing when I power-walk. I also experience minimal freezing when I walk barefoot on grass and when I walk in the forest.
Walking with a cane can also be beneficial, except when I’m in a high state of anxiety.
The key to minimizing freezing begins with the awareness that it is caused by fear, which is causing a release of cortisol and a suppression of dopamine. Then:
I will do an energy healing [see below] to dissolve the fear and release dopamine.
I will do a front-ball karate kick to force myself to stagger my feet [accompanied by a loud yell to help me break through the fear] and,
I will ensure that my feet are staggered.
I will lift my head up, with eyes forward.
If possible, I will give myself something to step over, and,
I will swing my arms and place my foot down heel-to-toe.
Even doing all these things, I might still find myself in such a fear state that I have difficulty walking, so I take it slow and focus as best I can on staggering my feet.
Overcoming Freezing Script:
I call on my inner-self and all my spirit healers to assist me in giving over to the healing energy of the universal-energetic-intelligence, all of the fear energy that is at the root of the freezing I am experiencing, so that this energy can be transmuted into divine love and released from my energy field.
While in the midst of writing Parts 1 and 2 of this blog-post, I had an epiphany in regards to our divine birthright. The epiphany followed a conversation I had with Mari about the four core beliefs that influence so much of our experience: that we are lovable, worthy/deserving, adequate and in charge of our lives.
When I mentioned the second belief … worthiness, which I also describe as, deserving … Mari said, “I don’t think it’s about deserving, it’s about birthright.” She said, “We don’t deserve to live in good health, because saying it this way implies that we have done something to be deserving. Rather, living in good health is our birthright.”
It was a subtle, yet extremely important, differentiation.
Then, a few days later, I had an aha! moment. I could apply the divine birthright concept to playing golf.
Before starting the round of golf that day, I told myself that it is my divine birthright to play well in all aspects of the game, including tee shots, fairway shots, chips and putts, each and every hole. I also assured myself that it is also part of the experience to face adversity in the form of hazards, poor shots or missed putts because it provides me with an opportunity to practice recovery shots, to learn and to appreciate the good shots. And to this point, I told myself that I don’t have to be scared to miss a putt or make a bad shot, but it’s okay if I am. I said this only once before starting the round and I had, by far, the best round of golf of the summer. Knowing that playing well is my birthright, seemed to take the pressure off completely.
I was blown away at how profound and immediate was the effect of this awareness. To hit so many good shots compared to how I had played this summer prior to this, was astounding … and I knew I was on to something very meaningful.
I knew then that I could apply the same understanding to my health … because it truly is my birthright to live in excellent health … so, I created a similar script, with references to my golf experience.
Just like it is my divine birthright to play well at golf, so too is it my divine birthright to live in excellent health. And just like it’s my divine birthright to play golf well in all aspects of the game, every time I play, including making good tee shots, good fairway shots, good chips and good putts, so too is it my divine birthright, to live in excellent health in all aspects of my being, including excellent physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health, and including having a healthy immune system, a healthy digestive system, a healthy circulatory system, a healthy lymphatic system, a healthy central nervous system, a healthy endocrine system, a healthy reproductive system and a healthy musculoskeletal system. It also means having a physical body that is in homeostasis, including optimum baseline dopamine, and a nervous system predominantly in a parasympathetic [calm] state. And just like it’s okay for me to experience adversity playing golf, because it is from adversity that I learn, so too is it okay to experience temporary adversity with my health, because from this, so too do I learn. Just like golf has hazards, errant shots and missed putts, so too does life have hazards, health issues, emotional traumas, fearful experiences and the creation of faulty, harmful beliefs because these experiences create meaningful challenges that invigorate me and help me grow. And just like it is okay for me to miss a putt in golf, so too is it okay for me to be temporarily overcome by fear … to feel fear … because this too is part of the healing process … part of the experience … and I have learned how to dissolve and release the fear. And this gives me the confidence to overcome fear and to know that I will be okay. This enables me to cultivate trust, especially in myself.
I believe that divine birthright is a universal law. I believe it is our divine birthright to live in excellent health, and it is our divine birthright to live in abundance; and it is our detrimental beliefs and fears that prevent us from doing so. But these are temporary.
Although my overall golf game was vastly improved, I actually didn’t putt as well as I normally do. The guys I golf with often remark about how well I putt. In considering this, I realized that I was experiencing some resistance, possibly fueled by a detrimental belief, that I am not deserving of the accolades and or I am not deserving of playing well in all aspects of the game.
It’s interesting that even though my birthright to be healthy and do well is a universal law that I was born with, it can still be temporarily overridden by a learned detrimental belief.
So, now I am focusing on reclaiming my birthright to be healthy, do well, live in abundance, while dissolving the detrimental beliefs … whatever they are … that are keeping me from actualizing my birthright. I am doing this by acknowledging and dissolving the false pretenses that created these beliefs through the following script.
I call on my inner-self and all of the spirit healers that are supporting me on my journey, to assist me in giving over to the healing energy of the universal-energetic-intelligence, all the low frequency vibrational energy that is trapped within my energy field, so that it can be transmuted into divine love and released from my energy field, particularly in regards to the thoughts, beliefs, emotions and fears at the root of the belief I hold that I don’t deserve to play well and putt well or receive accolades for my good play, and I give thanks for this healing and I give thanks for actualizing my divine birthright to perform well in any endeavor I undertake.
I have created a similar script for recovering my health:
I call on my inner-self and all of the spirit healers that are supporting me on my journey, to assist me in giving over to the healing energy of the universal-energetic-intelligence, all the low frequency vibrational energy that is trapped within my energy field, so that it can be transmuted into divine love and released from my energy field, particularly in regards to the thoughts, beliefs, emotions and fears at the root of the belief I hold that I don’t deserve to live in excellent health, and I give thanks for this healing and I give thanks for actualizing my divine birthright to perform well in any endeavor I undertake.
Before making my final putt of the round, I felt a pang of anxiety because it was a meaningful putt and everyone was watching. I quickly deduced that I might have been invaded by dark energies … another interesting phenomenon … so in my mind, I quickly recited the following:
I call on Raphael from the East, Michael from the South, Gabrael from the West and Urael from the North [the four archangels], to assist me in removing all unwanted spiritual beings, dark energies, demons and earthbound spirits from my energy field, and I request that they be given over to the healing energy of the universal-energetic-intelligence, so they can be immersed in love and so they can be reconnected with their true divine spiritual essence.
I gave thanks and then made the putt.
It has been a weird, but fascinating, ride, but I truly believe, for me, that it is part of the plan … part of my journey.
I envision that one morning I will wake up free of the symptoms of PD … because neuroplasticity takes place while we are sleeping … and without the need to take medication.
FredPhillips 