By Jordan Harborth, FNC-P, Nurse Practitioner at Neurology Solutions The benefit of a healthy gut is demonstrated from the moment we are born and during early development. Research has shown a fetus is extremely sensitive to any change in a mother’s microbiotic makeup. So sensitive, in fact, it can alter the way a baby’s brain […]
By Dr. Shahab Hyder, MD, Internal Medicine at Neurology Solutions Maintaining the health of your gut microbiome can result in significant health benefits. It has been shown that there is interaction with the GI microbiome and the central nervous system (the microbiome-gut-brain axis), which has already been linked to mood disorders. Poor gut microbiome health […]
The Parkinson’s Foundation has enrolled its 10,000th participant in the Parkinson’s Outcomes Project, the largest-ever clinical study of Parkinson’s disease (PD) spanning five nations. Started in 2009, the project studies everyone with PD, from the newly-diagnosed to people who have lived with Parkinson’s for 20 years or more, and aims to provide a comprehensive view of the disease and its overall impact on people’s lives.
Among the key conclusions so far, the research has shown that regular visits to neurologists could save thousands of lives a year and more exercise and focus on mental health could help improve patients’ well-being.
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a complex multi-system brain disorder impacting movement and the regulation of mood. Strides have been made in understanding the mechanism of PD and ways to prevent neurodegenerative diseases and slow disease progression. From treating depression to dancing to yoga therapy to implementing the comprehensive MEND protocol, read on for a roundup of 10 Latest Advances in Understanding and Treating Parkinson’s.
Intermittent fasting and restricted caloric intake is powerfully neuroprotective. Short-term fasting stimulates autophagy, a metabolic process that eliminates cell waste that may be responsible for many of the effects of aging. Studies have demonstrated that fasting can help prevent heart disease, speed fat loss, as well as slow or reverse aging. Researchers have found that the autophagy process is often defective in cancer, infectious diseases, immunological disorders and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease (PD).
Researchers say Metabolic Enhancement for NeuroDegeneration (MEND)−a combination therapy to slow neurodegeneration−may partially reverse and stabilize cognitive decline. Participants with mild cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s style dementia who took part in a two-year MEND study demonstrated real, life-altering improvements after following the MEND protocol for 5 to 24 months, the study showed.
The MEND program calls for interventions to treat conditions such as inflammation, stress and diabetes that could be associated with Alzheimer’s and dementia. It involves multiple components including dietary adjustments, exercise, stress reduction, hormone balance, sleep optimization and integration of certain vitamins and supplements to the patient’s regular routine.
This past year brought several exciting developments in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. From fast-tracking of an antibody being trialed as an immunotherapy drug in cancer treatment to FDA approval of the first medication to treat PD psychosis, researchers are advancing new medications for motor and secondary symptoms of the disease and gaining greater understanding of and potential therapies to slow disease process.
Choices about medications made early in the course of disease can have a lasting impact on the course of the illness. Learn about medications for managing Parkinson’s disease.
Neurology Solutions Movement Disorders Center shared an overview of its therapeutic program to provide hormone therapy for Parkinson’s (PD) disease management to improve patients’ cognition, mood and mobility and increase their tolerance for exercise. Following is a Hormone Therapy Q & A with more details on Neurology Solutions’ approach and results.
For the past two years Neurology Solutions Movement Disorders Center has trialed approximately 80 Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients with bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (HRT) as part of their treatment plan. With this protocol, Neurology Solutions is striving to bring the patients’ hormone levels closer to the hormone profile of their youth and investigate its impact on mobility, motor fluctuations, cognition, mood and quality of life.