(53) Parkinson's, peregrine falcons & optimism...

Peregrine falcons & PD?

Peregrine falcons are birds of prey with breeding populations found on most continents except Antarctica. Its claim to fame is when in flight and diving, this falcon can reach a speed of 300kph (kilometers per hour), that is 186mph (miles per hour)! Good luck to its prey, for example pigeons, because that makes peregrines the fastest animal in the world. In 2020, a Formula 1 racing Honda reached a speed of 397kph in a test, but that car was not born and bred in the wild, was it?

  

A recent National Geographic documentary series entitled Planet Earth 2, Series 1 (Episode 6: Cities) did a deep dive :-) into the largest nesting population of peregrine falcons in the world. They are not found in some remote forest but in the concrete jungle of New York City (NYC)! I have verified this with info from another source.  

So, peregrines are thriving in a parallel universe where the height of NYC's skyscrapers offer a great view of prey as well as represent those high cliffs and their natural look out spots in the wild. The tall buildings, bridges and towers offer nesting potential while huge glass-clad buildings generate sufficient warmth during the day to create pockets of heat resulting in updrafts of warm air which peregrines use in order to glide and to conserve energy. Amazing adaptation!

It is important to note that just fifty years ago, in the 1970s, along North America's 3,000km long Yukon River area, peregrines "were not as common as they are today, their populations declined to the point of endangerment due mostly to [DDT] pesticide usage. Thanks to environmental regulations of the 1970s, Peregrine Falcons were named an endangered species, and the populations in Alaska and elsewhere have rebounded naturally over time". 

I am in awe of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) action and the results, as is evident from the growing peregrine population in NYC. Sadly, all the research and funding into the impact of pesticides or genetics or digital innovation or the many other researchable topics on Parkinson's Disease (PD) has still not resulted in human populations with PD 'rebounding naturally over time'. In my opinion, maybe there's too great a focus on the rabbit holes of research topics and clinical trials regarding PD subjects rather than solutions for us as people with PD! Let's connect these dots with the thought below.

TH🤔UGHT: if peregrine falcons can adapt from living & breeding in the wild to living & breeding in NYC's skyscrapers, then why can't people with Parkinson's adapt from being reliant on drugs to being reliant on optimism & the healing power of the mind & the body?    

The placebo effect & optimism

I dedicated Post 45 to the placebo effect but had also toyed with the idea in Post 37: an excerpt is below. 

"...we are able to control much of what the mind tells the body to do if it is done methodically and purposefully. For instance, 20 minutes of daily transcendental meditation lowers your heart rate when done correctly (I can vouch for this). Also, there is the notion of the body being able to renew itself, for instance, see Brandon Bays' The Journey and Joe Dispenza's You are the Placebo. There appears to be something built into our bodies that will regenerate it if we care to seek it out and harness it. I have also written about neuroplasticity (see Post 28) in a similar context."         

My earlier TH🤔UGHT drew attention to NYC peregrines adapting to a new environment and I wondered why people with Parkinson's relied on pharmaceutics rather than adapting to, for instance, optimism and the natural healing power of the mind and the body. Generally, we know so little about medical science that we accept medical doctors' diagnoses and prescribed remedies. If the General Practitioner can't assist, then we're referred to a Specialist for a remedy. And we accept such remedies because, generally, that acceptance is based on trust. 

So, why do more people not trust alternative medicine for common illnesses? Maybe we desire speedy remedies, and a homeopathic or an Ayurvedic approach to healing takes time. Fast foods? Fast cars? Fast healing?

Let's return to this attitude of optimism, that, in my opinion, is another alternative "medicine" which facilitates the provision of remedies for many illnesses. A recent piece in Psychology Today (PT) (November, 2023) entitled "Is Optimism the World's Most Powerful Placebo Effect?" presented an overview of optimism. This positive attitude and state of mind has been shown to influence one's "beliefs, expectations, and bio-behavior changes, [because] it's a type of placebo effect". And no prescription or medical aid is required! 

The PT overview states that optimism is "a positive attitude or the ability to see the bright side of a situation...[expecting] positive future outcomes even when difficulties arise." Unfortunately, placebo effects are often misunderstood and experts often mistakenly believe that "they are limited to medicines or psychoactive substances...and [that] they are imaginary."

What has been discovered is that placebo effects produced on the inside of the body, i.e. as a result of one's positive attitude, are "just as strong as those produced by conventional medicine and treatments...from an outside source". When I feel intoxicated after drinking a non-alcoholic beverage, I am not merely imagining that I am tipsy but something is actually "manifesting chemically inside [my] body": I've experienced this! 

The underlying question posed in the November 2023 edition of Psychology Today, is why not indulge in some positive thinking as it can "up- and down-regulate hormones and neurotransmitter activity, affect pain sensitivity, impact gene expression, alter brain function...". Dear reader, would you consider a long-term remedy for PD and adapt to becoming a positive thinker? This is the power of a placebo! I've been practising this form of "alternative medicine" since my PD diagnosis in 2013 and I have been constantly surprised. 

Parkinson's Disease or... 

Recently, I came across an informative piece called "Conditions that Mimic Parkinson's" published by the Parkinson's Foundation in the USA. It lists at least six conditions that, superficially, present as PD but are actually subtle variations of it. Besides these six, four more are listed by a UK organisation.

Parkinson's UK, when unpacking "What is Parkinson's Disease" states that Parkinsonism is "an umbrella term used to cover a range of 10 conditions that are similar to Parkinson's." So, besides the normal Parkinson's that I thought I knew - this piece refers to my condition as (1)Idiopathic Parkinson's (idiopathic because the cause is unknown) - there are 9 other variations: 

• (2)Vascular parkinsonism; 
• (3)Drug-induced parkinsonism; 
• (4)Multiple system atrophy; 
• (5)Progressive supranuclear palsy; 
• (6)Normal pressure hydrocephalus; 
• (7)Various tremors, including essential tremor; 
• (8)Dementia with Lewy bodies; 
• (9)Corticobasal degeneration; and 
• (10)Wilson's Disease.     

QUESTION It is reasonable to assume that after a patient's diagnosis, a medical doctor *and/or specialist would have to prescribe specific medication for that diagnosed condition. (*I am aware of a few people with Parkinsonism in small towns in South Africa being treated by GPs as there are no Neurologists in the area. What medication is being prescribed and for which one of the 10 conditions?)  

Conclusion

If I do not do some form of physical exercise daily then I become stiff, I tend to festinate and I lose confidence in myself and my physical ability! This used to be a regular scenario over weekends in the absence of my caregiver who's here only during the week. Since 2023 I have also started walking on my own in the afternoons and seldom use my walking stick to walk. (Picture: 20 April 2024 after Parkinson's Annual Walk.)

I am still over-analysing myself, my PD and my abilities. In the absence of PD treatment or advice from a neurologist, this approach gives me a sense of purpose and fuels this blog. 

I also feel a sense of purpose when planning a Blog Post and a sense of accomplishment when it is final draft is published! Since March 2020 there have been 9249 views, worldwide, of my 52 posts. The most recent readers (viewders?) in 2024 are from Singapore, China and Japan. 

And for the PD I am still only taking three Ayurvedic medicines a few times daily washed down with extra-large cups of positive thinking. Plus exercise, lots of music and my favourite TV programmes. My mental exercises are online and consist of weekly Lumosity games as well as daily word games (Wordle, Word Challenge) and Solitaire.  

Like the NYC peregrine falcons, I believe I am adapting...till next time, dear reader.