I rejected any treatment from the medical profession and sought my own way to health. I continued my homeopathic adventure under the guidance of Marg Wood, my journey "inside myself" with Peter Clarke, and CST fortnightly with Julie Streckfuss. Julie had examined me thoroughly on a couple of occasions and considered the abnormalities apparent on the CT and MRI scans significant.
She told me her opinion, then said, "What do you want to do about it?"
"I want to get well" I replied.
"Well then," she said, "Let’s make a plan."
In 1994, I had become involved with a Spiritualist Church and begun developing the art of meditation and spiritual development. The love, support and knowledge I gained from the people and activities at the Victorian Spiritualist Union were, and are, vital to my health. Progress was slow, frustrating, painful and fluctuating. For two years, each day brought pain, fatigue and a continuation of Parkinsonian symptoms at some level. While I had times of improvement, there were other times when I felt that I was going backwards. It was only when I took time to contemplate my journey retrospectively that I could see that there was some progress, albeit frustratingly slow.
One episode in October 1996 nearly brought to my knees, however. My back went into spasm for no apparent reason. I was alone in the house and, for six hours, I screamed and bit myself in agony, incapable of reaching the phone to call for help. The pain went as suddenly as it arrived and I dropped off to sleep. Six hours later, I was woken by the same dreadful pain which, again, lasted for six hours. I sought help from an osteopath the next day but to no avail. Later, Marg Wood gave me a dose of Belladonna 200 just as the pain was returning for the 4th or 5th time. The relief was very quick and the spasm did not return.
My diet fluctuated greatly over the period of my journey. Ideally, I aimed to consume a diet rich in vegetables and whole grains, with ample fruit and moderate protein intake. However, I had to prepare all my own meals and was often too tired to do more than heat up a commercial frozen meal or make some toast. I was further inhibited by aging and ill-fitting dentures that I could not afford to renew.
I am positive that my health would have improved more rapidly had I been able to prepare and consume a well balanced, nutritionally adequate diet.
In September 1997, I commenced an experiment with Aqua Formula (see the Aqua Hydration Therapy page). I had attended a lecture on the Aquas which gave me hope that they may be a "miracle" formula to help me reach total health. So I began enthusiastically taking the full recommended dose every day, but hadn’t taken into account my physical fragility, the fact that I had been on a homeopathic journey for two years, plus working emotionally and spiritually to improve my health.
When taken to excess, homeopathic formulas like the Aquas can create or aggravate the symptoms they are intended to cure. In my enthusiasm, I overdosed and exacerbated many of the Parkinsonian symptoms I was trying to eradicate.
By mid October 1997, I was terribly depressed, displaying renewed Parkinsonian symptoms, and in excruciating pain from a frozen right shoulder. I gave up the battle and planned suicide. I delayed the act for one week while I tried to sort out how to tell my son why I had given up (when he had never given up his own battles) and obtained the means to die. During this week, I was given the name of Vicky, a clairvoyant, Reiki Master and Body Light worker. I visited her as if grasping at a last hope. With the help of a student, she reduced my physical pain to manageable levels and I decided to live a little longer. I stopped the Aquas but continued all other therapies and improved slowly.
By January 1998, I felt that I could really beat Parkinson’s disease. I was in my last year of college (my eighteenth of intermittent study) and really wanted to finish my Diploma and practice. I had studied Bowen Therapy during 1997, so decided to try the therapy for myself, hoping it may free up my shoulder which was still very restricted in movement (I had been unable to fold my arms for about two years).
Several Bowen treatments later, I folded my arms with minimum discomfort and felt my energy returning. I knew that I had only one more small step to take to achieve health.
Wild Medicine, manufacturers of the Aqua Formulas, offered to assess my sensitivity kineisiologically to try and find out why their product had aggravated my symptoms. The assessment showed that the work I had done before taking the Aquas, and my physical fragility, meant that I needed only a vastly reduced dosage to gain benefit. I recommenced taking the formula and made good progress in regaining normal energy levels and achieving a more positive outlook on life.
One day in early April 1998, a close friend said, "You don't have Parkinson's disease."
"Well, I'm getting better," I replied, "and I'm sure I'll beat it soon."
"But you don't have any symptoms at all now," she said, "Therefore you can't have Parkinson's disease."
I spent a long time considering her words, examining my physical condition, talking to my friends and practitioners. It was only after a long process of checking and re-checking all my physical functions and reviewing my progress, that I was prepared to accept the fact that I had fully recovered from stage IV Parkinson's disease.
Why did I recover when so many had tried and failed before me? Was it the Aquas that took a little while before their full benefit became apparent? Was it the accumulation of many therapies that just happened to coincide at that time? I am not sure. I am certain that the whole of my journey is important and it is almost impossible to separate the effect of each therapy/experience from the whole. I have tried in my research paper (see John's Books), but the analysis is unsatisfactory. The main factors leading to my recovery from Parkinson’s disease are, I believe, as follows:
- I was determined to recover completely rather than just try and control the progress of the disease or relieve the symptoms. Apart from the short period in 1997 related above, I maintained this determination throughout my journey.
- I had no specific carer. My friends were loving and supportive but had their own lives to attend to, so I rarely saw anyone other than workmates. I needed to be able to support myself financially and take care of my day-to-day needs such as food, cleaning, washing clothes and shopping. Therefore, being well enough to do these things was an imperative.
- I was prepared to seek help and guidance from therapists and activities which my instinct told me may be of benefit. I have written about the most significant, but there were others including herbal medicine, counselling, psychiatry, massage, exercise, grape seed extract and others. Some were helpful, others unhelpful or even detrimental, but it was important to take the risk of trying anything that might be beneficial. I had no studies or clinical experience to guide me, so could not afford to miss opportunities.
- I read everything I could about Parkinson’s disease and related disorders so that I could ask the right questions.
- I made myself as aware of my own body and mind as I could so that I could tell when the Parkinson’s disease was affecting me, and when other exogenous or endogenous factors were at work.
- I set achievable goals (see Research Paper)
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I continue to remain free from all Parkinson’s disease symptoms and have no sign of developing Multi System Atrophy. My skull remains the same shape and the tinnitus is still present, although to a lesser extent. Perhaps my Parkinson’s disease was idiopathic as the Neurologist thought, but it does seem likely that repeated impacts in childhood caused the onset of Multi System Atrophy symptoms and tinnitus.
This has been a remarkable journey. My reward is that now I can say "I used to have Parkinson’s disease".
# DOXEPIN - Doxepin hydrochloride is a drug prescribed for endogenous depression (in my case, a rather doubtful diagnosis). Adverse side effects of Doxepin include drowsiness, confusion, disorientation, ataxia, dizziness, tinnitus, headache, fatigue and weakness - all symptoms I currently displayed. Patients taking Doxepin should be warned against driving a car . This was not done in my case and, anyway, my car was my only feasible means of transport at the time. I decided that Doxepin was not an appropriate treatment for me at that time. |
