Fight Parkinson's and Huntington's with Vitamins and Antioxidants Paperback – March 27, 2016

This book should be welcomed warmly by everyone involved with Parkinson's disease (PD), whether as patient, caregiver, or medical provider. The standard treatment (drugs and/or deep-brain-stimulation surgery) aims only to manage the symptoms. This it can do, more or less, for a number of years. But as the disease continues to kill off the neurons generating Dopamine, and salt the brain with protein clumps called Lewy bodies, it becomes more and more challenging to control the symptoms. Eventually the advance of the disease combined with the side-effects from the drugs backs the patient up against a wall . . . it's game-over.As a Parkinson's patient myself, I read only the first half of the book (111 pages), which deals with PD, and will review that here.In contrast to the symptomatic approach, Dr. Prasad seeks to target basic causes of PD with supplements. His thesis, based on research, is that two major, self-sustaining triggers involved in the disease are: A) oxidative stress (think "free radicals"), and B) inflammation. He includes also related triggers such as excitotoxicity (think "aspartame, sucralose, MSG, . . ") where "neurons excite themselves to death." The importance of these triggers, and supplements to fight them, is not a new idea. Already several years ago, Russell L. Blaylock, MD, who lost both his parents to PD, published a lucid 10-page article, "Parkinson's Disease--You Can Fight Back," detailing this same philosophy, complete with recommended supplements.What is new in Dr. Prasad's work is the completeness of the treatment: five tutorial chapters explain the microbiology, together with a bibliography of more than 300 journal articles (for PD and HD, combined.) Most of the references are less than 10 years old, and most should be accessible for free online (at least their abstracts) via PubMed.But that brings me to a CAUTION for the would-be buyer: this book is NOT "Neurology and Vitaminology for Dummies"! It is ostensibly aimed at the medically-literate reader, The average lay reader will find many parts too technical for comfort, too jam-packed with jargon and detail. But, there is an easy way out. If perusing the book convinced you, as it did me, that the author knows fully whereof he speaks, you can skip to the concluding PD advice. Pages 106-111, specially the table on page 108, will show you quickly and easily what supplements are recommended, in what dosages, and according to what schedule. Dr. Prasad gives a contact email on the bottom of page 107 whereby one can make further inquiries about a relevant product.One other caution. The micro-nutrient mixture that the author recommends is still hypothetical, even if it is inspired by decades of research. It has never been clinically tested on human beings, though individual supplements within it, such as vitamin E and CoQ10 have been. Dr. Prasad argues that the multifaceted mixture is likely to be much more successful at extinguishing inflammation and oxidative stress than one or two isolated nutrients. Also, at the suggested dosages, the ingredients ought to be completely safe. I suspect that given the safety, many people will be interested to add these nutrients to their daily regimen in the interest of preventing or slowing down PD, Especially if the price is right!

hard to find information on Huntingtons - this has some useful tips to help

It’s very easy to miss the point while reading this book because we are so used to fighting the symptoms of diseases. Far too often the advancement of Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease happens under the radar, only to show up later in life with a long list of side effects from the drugs taken to cover up the symptoms. If you have these diseases you owe it to yourself to get educated. Done in conjunction with your normal treatment plan, the advice in this book will take everything you are doing to a whole new level.Dhara Lemos, Lotus Guide

For someone with HD reaading this was very overwhelming

Cuidado es un libro no medicamento, aunque diga pasta blanda es libro 🫣

It was informative, which is why I got it

Not a lot of new information but if you are looking for a place to start this is good.