I recently received the following message from Benjamin Stecher in my blog’s in-box:
Hey, fellow PD advocate and blogger here,
Below is a link to my latest blog entry about the future of PD therapies, thought you might be interested in taking a look.
https://tmrwedition.com/2017/03/23/the-future-of-parkinsons-disease-therapies/
I have recently started collaborating with a number of research labs that are working towards bringing to practice some of the therapies mentioned in that article with the goal of one day bringing an end to this disease.
I hope that my article might inspire people to keep fighting, knowing that there are so many new and exciting therapies coming soon. Feel free to share that information with anyone who you think might benefit from it.
Looking forward to what the future has in store,
Benjamin Stecher
tmrwedition.com
If you click on the link, you’ll read what seems to me to be a succinct appraisal of the current state of Parkinson’s research and therapies, with forecasts for what we can expect in the near and distant future. Links from the article lead to respectable Parkinson’s websites as well as to the bio background for the articulate and passionate Benjamin Stecher, who has Young Onset PD.
What I was most interested in are the following:
(1) Benjamin’s statement that more than anything else that you can do for yourself as a Parkie, you need to exercise and take your meds. In his exact words:
The best therapies are still the old staples: exercise, a healthy lifestyle, balanced diet, and proper medication. However for those who are either unable, too busy, or, let’s face it, simply too lazy or stubborn to exercise regularly and eat right, science may be coming to the rescue. (But seriously, don’t just rely on the meds or science to fix you, get off your ass, join a boxing gym or dance class, eat properly, and live life.)
(2) His summation of the two current best defenses against PD: levodopa and DBS (deep brain stimulation).
(3) His projection for new therapies we can expect in the next 2 – 5 years: new drugs that “not only offer symptomatic relief but hit the holy grail that is actual disease modifying therapies”; and neuromodulation techniques, such as “transcranial magnetic stimulation, in which magnets are attached to the outside of patients’ heads that send a focused electric current deep into the target areas of the brain.”
(4) His projection for new therapies that may be available five to ten years from now…or longer.
Benjamin blogs frequently at this site, so bookmark it for his future posts.
