News from East Lansing – November 13, 2007

We left Costa Rica at 9:50AM and arrived in Detroit 13 hours later. I had restless nights for then ext two evenings and felt too sick to go to work on Monday. I slept all afternoon and a got a good block of sleep time at night so Tuesday was a much better day. The rest of the days since my return have been up and down with an occasional period of normal function without any side effects. I went to the ICM website and re-read the section on Parkinson’s disease. It said that people who had the stem cells reintroduced through an IV had observed something like 53% recovery at the three month mark and around 80% by the end of one year. Nov. 26th marks two months since I received the stem cells.

Neurologically, I haven't felt any major shifts but as I consider how I felt before the stem cell treatment I recognize that there are little changes like the restless leg doesn't come every night and I feel less compulsive and have more energy than I did before. However, I still lose complete control of movement and freeze up when the meds wear off. Because of this, I am still taking my dopamine replacement medication. But, now I go for 3 or (sometimes more) hours before taking the next dose, instead of every 2 1/2 hours. The Dyskinesia does not bother me if I keep the dosage of the medicine spaced at the 3 hour or longer interval. The only problem with the longer time between is I can go out within a few minutes time and once I'm out, it can take an hour or more to recover even if I take the medicine right away.

My hair, skin and nails are all very healthy and happy. I see many small indicators that I am improving and feel confident that I will continue to improve as more time goes by.

I want to share some additional information that I just received from a Homeopathic doctor here. I contacted him because I felt that I might have a systemic yeast infection. I have had chronic sinus problems and stomach bloating after eating for the last several months. He tested for food allergies, toxins, micro-organisms, bacterial and viral infections using an electo-magnetic meridian mapping device. What he discovered was a strep infection localized in my brain. He said that this was very unusual and yet he felt that he was correct in diagnosing it as he used muscle testing to confirm his findings. (For more information on muscle testing, Google “homeopathy +muscle test” there are many sites discussing the pros and cons of this type of assessment.)

The Homeopathic doctor also said that my levels of tyrosine (a chemical that works as a neuro-transmitter and facilitates the making of dopamine) was extremely low and that my levels of norpinephrine, epinephrine and serotonin were very high because the tyrosine and dopamine are supposed to be there to create a balance between the sympathetic and para-sympathetic parts of the nervous system. He gave me two homeopathic tinctures to take 3 times a day to kill the strep.

I will see him on Tuesday, Nov. 20th. His thought is that as the strep is eliminated the body may just begin to function properly and the brain will make the tyrosine that will then make the dopamine. If not, after another two weeks time, he will give me a naturally derived tyrosine and try to kick start the process a bit. This is very encouraging to me because I’ve always thought that it was important to discover the reason why my brain wasn't making dopamine and correct the problem so that the new stem cells wouldn't be damaged in the same way the my initial cells were. This doctor feels that the timing is perfect in that at the three month time frame of the stem cell treatment (typical time for patients to begin to feel definite improvement in their condition) the strep should be all cleared out and the body will have begun its normal processes of making tyrosine and dopamine again.

I am healing, happy, and hopeful that my healing journey will lead me to full recovery. I thank you all for your continuing love and support.

Love, Nancy