It’s time to reframe our thinking and take a new approach to Parkinson's disease!

Despite 200+ years of effort, we do not have a system to predict, prevent, halt, or reverse Parkinson’s.

Dr Mischley explores the notion that the problem lies in the lens through which we’ve been viewing it, the approaches we’ve been taking, and the assumptions we’ve been making.

Provider bias: Dopamine has been a distraction and obstacle for disease-modification research. Subjective measures are better in early PD.
Industry bias.
Floor effects for crude measurement systems: Phase 3 studies keep failing because the tools we’ve been using to determine severity aren’t sensitive in newly-diagnosed people in disease-modification research studies. Study designs are flawed. People that enroll in studies probably not same as global population.
Providers’ opinion that Parkinson’s is “irreversible and progressive” is outdated and contributes to the problem.
"What works” and “what providers know how to teach” and “what insurance will pay for” are often not aligned.
The systems - and access to the systems - play a role in determining outcomes.
We already have tools to make Parkinson’s preventable and reversible that we’re not using.
This revised patient-centered, evidence-based pragmatic paradigm will include education, symptom tracking, goal-setting, counseling, laboratory tests to screen for nutritional deficiencies, counseling regarding diet, daily physical activity, social health, and strategies to encourage financial stability.

About the speaker:-

Dr. Laurie Mischley, ND PhD MPH studied naturopathic medicine (ND) at Bastyr University and epidemiology (MPH) and nutritional sciences (PhD) at the University of Washington and she maintains appointments at both Universities. Her work is focused on identifying the nutritional requirements unique to individuals with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and has published on coenzyme Q10, lithium, NAD+, and glutathione deficiency (www.lauriemischley.com).

She is Principal Investigator of the Modifiable Variables in Parkinsonism (MVP) Study (https://mvp-study.com/), which is attempting to describe why some people with PD progress slower than others.

She is working on ways to study, package and deliver evidence-based lifestyle modification as a therapeutic strategy.

She founded:-
The Parkinson Center for Pragmatic Research (https://parkinson-cpr.com/) The Canine scent-based PD screening tool, ParK-9 (https://park-9.com/),
Developed a patient-reported outcome measure to assess PD severity (https://pd-symptoms.com/), built the Parkinson Symptom Tracking (PRO-PD) App, which is available free on iSO or Android

Is instructor of the online series, Parkinson School (https://www.parkinson-school.com/) for which she has kindly given our No Silver Bullet community free access for a limited time using the code NOSILVERBULLET

Dr Roberto Cilia spoke to us on the topic of "Mucuna Pruriens and the future of Parkinson's care in low income countries"

There is much discussion by PwP as to the benefits of using this "natural " form of Levadopa as an alternative or in addition to prescribed Levadopa so it is very interesting to hear this presentation and the answers to the very high number of questions in the Q&A that follows it.

Roberto's main focus is on using mucuna to treat Parkinson's patients in countries where levodopa is either not available or not affordable. This is a great opportunity to learn about this important legume!

Dr. Roberto Cilia is a renowned movement disorder specialist based in Milan, Italy. With extensive experience in neurology, he has dedicated his career to improving the lives of patients suffering from Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders.

We are delighted to be able to share with you our latest interview with
Dr Filip Scheperjans who shared with us his fantastic work on "The importance of the gut-brain axis in Parkinson's" which was followed by an excellent Q & A session.

More about our expert:-

Dr. Filip Scheperjans is a leading expert in neurology, specialising in treating Parkinson’s disease and focusing on advanced methods and gastrointestinal symptoms.

He earned his Licentiate of Medicine from the University of Düsseldorf in 2006 and completed his Neurology specialisation at the University of Helsinki in 2013. In 2008, he received his Doctor of Medical Science, focusing on neuroanatomy, and became Associate Professor in 2020 at the University of Helsinki.

Dr. Scheperjans investigates the relationship between gastrointestinal symptoms and the microbiome in Parkinson’s disease, exploring novel treatment strategies. His work includes advanced therapies like drug infusions and deep-brain stimulation, supported by major organisations such as the Academy of Finland and the Michael J. Fox Foundation.