It is quite normal
to feel frightened, but that usually is ‘fear of the
unknown’. Okay, PD is a progressive condition, but
nothing drastic happens in the short term, and it is not
life threatening. When you feel the dark clouds closing
around your head, just remember that historically PD has
been around for centuries, and so many famous people have
suffered from it including Julius Caesar. These people still
achieved, without help from drugs in those days.
I always feel better
when I am involved with interesting projects. The worst
thing you can do is just sit at home, doing nothing and
worrying. Recently I saw a fascinating programme on Alternative
Therapies. As you all know, PD sufferers lack dopamine,
which is the chemical produced in the brain which controls
muscle movement. This programme showed the power of the
mind over matter. When patients were given real treatment
and fake treatment or no treatment, the non treatment had
the worst results, but the placebo treatment did as well
as the real treatment. One of the patients was a PD sufferer
who was given fake treatment, but despite this, improved
incredibly in his mobility, and a scan showed dopamine being
produced in his brain at a high level, with no other means
than that of thought. It seems that good strong emotions
such as hope and joy, help the brain to manufacture dopamine.
Recently, while I was
on tour in Germany, I went to see a famous healer, and had
some beneficial treatment from him. When he sees somebody
for the first time, he gives them the once over, and he
found a cyst in one of my ovaries, which he said he fixed.
Sure enough, that evening I felt a trickle of clear water
running down my right leg, with no trace of where it was
coming from, and when I saw him the next day, he said that
it had gone.
Recently when I saw
my specialist, he told me that research is very much under
way, and it is only a matter of a few years before stem
cells will be used to cure PD. So PD sufferers, let’s
live in hope!
