00:15welcome back to the parkison doctor
00:17Youtube channel this is Dr Ramon
00:19Rodriguez neurologist and movement
00:21disorder specialist in Orlando Florida
00:24and today I'm speaking about alternative
00:27therapies for Parkinson's Disease and
00:30this is a a subject that I have patients
00:34asking for the past 20 years on a daily
00:37basis and uh I I try to avoid uh talking
00:41about this because it's just too complex
00:43and and and the truth is that you know
00:46we always like to present data uh when
00:49we speak about this kind of uh you know
00:51any treatment for that matter and and
00:54you know that's the main issue with this
00:56supplements we we do not have data to
00:59support the use but obviously you know
01:01there might be a role in this so what
01:03I'm going to do is I'm just going to
01:05talk about the data that has been
01:07published uh about these products and
01:10what I will do is I will go one by one
01:12right you know we'll discuss some of
01:13them I will appreciate your feedback in
01:15the comments um so you know that that
01:19will engage and Spark the the
01:21conversation so you know I'll be happy
01:23to do some of the research and and share
01:26what my impressions are in this uh uh
01:30regard okay so you know to to begin I uh
01:34I actually have been very fortunate to
01:37have the opportunity to teach in in
01:39China and uh you know one of those
01:42meetings was the 2018 Beijing
01:45International seminar of acupuncture and
01:49neurology and this was just a very
01:51interesting meeting you I really enjoy
01:53being there because I had the
01:54opportunity to share the stage with many
01:57of the uh local uh scientists and and
02:00neurology and Rehabilitation doctors
02:02that were doing research on the
02:04treatment of Parkinson disease and other
02:06movement disorders uh with acupuncture
02:09and complimentary and alternative
02:11medicine and you know the the reason why
02:14I was there is they always wanted to
02:16have what my opinion was and and I share
02:19some of the experiences that we had in
02:21the United States with the kind of
02:23medicines that that we use and then they
02:25were talking about theirs and it was
02:27very interesting because it was like
02:29speaking another language in medicine
02:31right you know and and I know you know
02:33they were speaking Chinese I was
02:35speaking English we had all these
02:37translators but even as we were speaking
02:39about medicine they were doing things
02:41that were quite different from what we
02:43were doing in the in the US and it
02:45doesn't mean that whatever they were
02:46doing was right or wrong or whatever we
02:48were doing was right or wrong but
02:50nonetheless very interesting uh bringing
02:53the concept that there might be more
02:54than one way of doing things so uh what
02:58I'm going to do I'm just going to
02:59discuss some of these articles that that
03:02that I found this is just a very short
03:04review right and the first one is this
03:06article by Dr indu uh subian where she's
03:10speaking about complimentary and
03:12alternative medicine and exercise in
03:15nonmodern symptoms of Parkinson disease
03:17and I I love seeing these kind of
03:20Articles coming out and the reason is
03:22this we do not have uh good therapies
03:26for a lot of the problems that we have
03:28here so you know if we look at this
03:29article you know she's she's talking
03:32about um issues with cognition apathy uh
03:37fatigue in people with parkon disease
03:39the depression sleep problems so the
03:43medicines that we have right now
03:44unfortunately have not been helpful at
03:46this issues so I'm so happy to see that
03:49there might be another way where we can
03:52um we might be able to treat this and
03:54you know fortunately the article is not
03:56telling us listen use this for for that
03:58but it's telling us that the question is
04:01there and the attempts are there doing
04:03the research trying to answer this
04:05question so this is all very very very
04:08important right so that's uh one of the
04:11things that I want to uh to speak about
04:13the other thing is you know look at this
04:15other article published in 2022 Global
04:18training the research and development of
04:20acupuncture treatment on parkon disease
04:22from 202 2021 right and you know the the
04:27the authors here what they found is that
04:30a lot of people are doing different
04:31things so it's not you know there's not
04:34a protocol per se that people are
04:37following and that is the main challenge
04:39right where this might be
04:41useful however we need to create a
04:44protocol for all the doctors that will
04:46engage in these kind of treatments will
04:48be able to to to do it in my experience
04:51you know when when I was in China
04:53acupuncture was something that was very
04:55common and you know in my experience
04:57there was an alley full of people doing
04:58acupuncture it was something very
05:00interesting you will sit down get your
05:02acupuncture treatment and you know that
05:04will be a dollar or $2 dollars right um
05:07which is one of the main challenges that
05:08we have in the United States that um you
05:11know the cost of these procedures is is
05:13much more than $2 or or a dollar so it's
05:16very difficult to sustain these properly
05:19in the longterm manner but you know what
05:21it might be a reasonable option in in in
05:24the appropriate conditions where this is
05:26something that will be accessible for
05:29our patients this is another article
05:32about long-term treatment with high do
05:34thyine in parkon disease and op label
05:37study this is an article in the Journal
05:40of alternative compliment medicine and
05:42I'm just putting this here just to spark
05:45the conversation right I'm not going to
05:47get deep into the issue of the timing
05:49but this is all very interesting and
05:51this is actually one of the articles by
05:54Dr Antonio costantini and Dr costantini
05:59is is was a doctor in the in the
06:01neurological Rehabilitation Unit in vbo
06:03Italy and he was treating people with
06:06high dose thyine so he was giving them
06:08an injection of thyine 100 milligrams
06:11one injection intramuscular Mondays
06:13another ones on on Thursday and he is
06:17presenting here um some cases and this
06:21is an open labeled study so so so the
06:23way that this happened is people knew
06:24what they were getting and and we're
06:27going to follow you over time and we're
06:28going to prepare you but this is very
06:30interesting because he reports that that
06:32the treatment led to significant
06:33Improvement of motor and nonmotor
06:36symptoms right so it took about three
06:38months to see this and and you know
06:41looking in some of the things that he
06:42has published he was mentioning that
06:44people getting this kind of treatments
06:46earlier had even uh more Improvement so
06:49his conclusion was that administration
06:51of Parental Hyo was effective in you
06:55know he says here reversing the
06:56Parkinson disease motor and nonmotor
06:59symptoms you know I I think that he
07:00probably meant that that there was an
07:02improvement so the clinical Improvement
07:05was stable over time in all the the the
07:08patient so you know he has a hypothesis
07:10that thtiming may play a role in the
07:13treatment or maybe even slowing down the
07:15progression of Parkinson disease
07:17unfortunately Dr costantini passed away
07:212020 U he develop Co so this is
07:25something that just stay there has not
07:27been moving forward obviously this kind
07:29of research requires uh you know the the
07:32intervention of of the scientific
07:34Community to try to answer uh uh this
07:37question uh properly right so we we we
07:40don't have more information so I'm just
07:42going to make a quick stop here and talk
07:44about some of the things that I do in my
07:46clinic right and and once again you know
07:48I told you that we're going to do things
07:50one by one and we we need to set some
07:53rules before we get into this right so
07:56rule number one I am not telling you to
07:58stop taking your parkon disease uh
08:01medicines to try some of these
08:03supplements um you know that's rule
08:06number one rule number two is make sure
08:07that you speak with your doctor before
08:09you begin any of this therapies so uh
08:12you know some of these therapies might
08:13have some side effects as well so do not
08:15engage in them before your doctor gives
08:17you the okay uh to do so so with this
08:21you know I'm just going to go with
08:22something very basic something that I do
08:24on a daily basis in my practice and that
08:27is you know that I'm going to speak
08:29about the vitamins that I recommend my
08:31patients to take and this is kind of
08:33interesting you know when when I go to
08:34Medical meetings and I have
08:35conversations with uh you know my
08:38friends other doctors that are parkon
08:40disase Specialists you know they don't
08:42you know some of them make a
08:43recommendation of vitamin some of them
08:45do not some of them have their own
08:46formulas as well so I'm going to tell
08:48you what my formula is right so I do
08:51recommend my patients in my clinic to
08:54take thyine 100 milligrams um and that
08:57would be one tablet daily the second one
09:00is uh vitamin B6 25 milligrams every day
09:04vitamin uh B12 between 500 and 1,000
09:09microgram so that's we're speaking now
09:11here about half a milligram to 1
09:13milligram and then I recommend them to
09:16take folic acid right and and the reason
09:18is this you know this is my
09:19recommendation for my patients that are
09:21taking Carbidopa lopa and I personally
09:24believe and just looking at some of the
09:26data that is available I do believe that
09:29liod DOA might play a role in the way
09:31that these vitamins are metabolized and
09:33these vitamins are critical are
09:35essential for good brain function and we
09:38have seen I personally have seen a lot
09:39of patients developing peripheral
09:41neuropathy with parkon disease a lot of
09:43sensory neuropathies numbness are
09:45tingling in their legs this is something
09:47that is important because it can affect
09:49their balance so I I think that
09:53supplementing uh with these vitamins is
09:55not you know it's not an a unreasonable
09:58idea idea right you know how much this
10:01is going to cost you know I don't know
10:04you know how much it's a it's a bottle
10:05of vitamins right you know let's just
10:07say that it's going to be $30 to find an
10:10average and and you know if if this
10:12works this is awesome right you know
10:14something that you're getting good for
10:1530 bucks it's a good deal um you know if
10:18it doesn't work right you just lost $30
10:20but what if right and and and you know
10:22that's the message that I want to to
10:24bring so I personally like to make this
10:26kind of recommendations to my patients I
10:29that um it is going to to to help them
10:33and um you know it is something that is
10:36cost effective so once again thyine um
10:39which is vitamin B1 100 milligrams per
10:41day vitamin B6 25 milligrams per day
10:45vitamin B12 500 micrograms to 1,000
10:49micrograms uh per day and then um folic
10:53acid 1 milligram per day so so this is
10:56my the the the battery the the
10:58concoction that I recommend my patients
11:00to take and you can take this from um
11:02multiple sources you know there there
11:04are many vitamins you know which one is
11:06best don't ask me uh I I do have my
11:08personal preference but uh but but you
11:12have to do you right you know I have I
11:14did my research I I figured out a
11:15vitamin that I think is a is a good
11:17quality one but there are many vitamins
11:19and and and I think that any of one you
11:21know any of them might be able to to
11:23serve the the the role of giving you um
11:26this supplement so talk to your doctor
11:29about them I I I recommend this to all
11:31my my patients and once again this was
11:34actually a change in my practice that I
11:36did a year or two years ago what I
11:39started recommending this because after
11:41looking at the data and looking at the
11:42things that I was seeing and putting all
11:44this together I do believe that there is
11:46a good role here okay in the future what
11:49I'm going to do is I'm going to speak
11:50about about uh red light therapy I'm
11:52going to talk about vibration therapy
11:54we're going to bring that glove which is
11:56a non Medical therapy that can help uh
12:00people with parkon disease under Tremor
12:02you know there are a few things that I
12:03see people bringing from all parts of
12:05the world you know devices that you put
12:07in your chest and so on stuff that you
12:09glue to in in your body jackets with
12:13vibrations and and so on so we're going
12:15to try to get to all of them one by one
12:18and have this conversation and obviously
12:20we're not going to lose the perspective
12:21of the importance of you know
12:22acupuncture diet yoga taii and so on so
12:27one by one we're going to t all these uh
12:30alternative therapies when we speak
12:32about parkison disease once again thank
12:34you for joining today make sure that you
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12:50thank you very much and until the next