Inositol: Battling the Shakes of Parkinson's

Your nervous system really consists of two things, the nerves and the nerve coverings. The nerve covering helps conduct the nerve signals. When the nerve covering is working poorly, it can affect the nerve system.

Approximately 5 years ago, I devised a supplement protocol for my older brother who was suffering from phase 1 Parkinson’s and Parkinson’s dementia. After starting the protocol I devised, his Parkinson’s stabilized and even improved! We will tell the whole story through this blog, but as of now we will discuss the specifics of the protocol that improved his nerve function.

I started by looking into the possibility that the Parkinson’s shakes could be controlled through optimizing nerve function. The first thing I researched was the myelin sheath (the nerve covering). I initially consulted the book Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, 10th edition (a present I received from a friend) which states that diabetic neuropathy in animals can often be induced, “which exhibits prolonged conduction times similar to those seen in human diabetes.” Our nerves operate best when they are working at optimal speed. When nerve conduction slows down this can lead to degeneration of the nerves. Since I read this information in Harrison’s, I have seen many other examples which support my conclusions.

The book continues to state that, “the involved nerves were found to have a marked decrease in myoinositol content that could be reversed either by insulin treatment [this was an article about diabetic neuropathy] or by feeding myoinositol [pg 675].” I considered what I read and reasoned that prolonged nerve conduction could possibly be improved by feeding a person myoinositol. My background in nutrition led me to the supplement Inositol, which causes your body to produce myoinositol when ingested! I reasoned that including Inositol in my brother’s protocol might help keep his nerve conduction optimal and possibly combat his Parkinson’s shakes.

I knew that before I administered anything to my brother, it was essential that I figure out the proper dosage. Whenever I need nutritional information I refer to Dr. Michael Colgan, a world renowned nutritional scientist. He won’t print anything unless it has been thoroughly researched and supported by reliable sources. In his book, Your Personal Vitamin Profile, he states that, “nerves contain fifty times the Inositol level of the blood. Inositol is essential to proper conduction of nerve impulses. The level in nerves declines with age and so does our speed of reactions. It has no known toxicity. The best natural sources of Inositol are lecithin and wheat germ.” The key point I took from this passage was Inositol’s lack of any known toxicity. After evaluating this information, I came to the conclusion that a dosage of 1 gram a day would prove itself safe and beneficial.

After some deliberation, I reevaluated my initial decision and decided to increase his Inositol dosage to 3 grams a day, as part of a health and protein shake. Three grams may sound like a major increase, but I reasoned that an individual suffering from Parkinson’s would need more Inositol than a person that did not have a degenerative disease. Later I learned of another supplement called IP6 (Inositol Hexaphosphate), a form of Inositol involved with messaging in the body, which I included in hopes that it would work synergistically with the regular Inositol and increase their effectiveness.

Everyone: The first step I took in battling my brother’s Parkinson’s was to improve his nerve conduction. I felt that poor nerve conduction could be a symptomatic factor of Parkinson’s, independent of any dopamine considerations. My older brother’s reaction times have improved since he started taking the Inositol powder every morning in his health shake. By improving his nerve conduction we have improved stability in his limbs, which goes a long way towards helping control his Parkinson’s shakes.

Get The Most Out of Your Drinking Water

There is a lot of confusion out there regarding the best drinking water. The basic waters available are tap water, spring water, purified water, distilled water, alkaline (bubbly or carbonated) water, and water with increased oxygen.

Tap water is the least pure of all drinking water. It’s up to you to decide if you want to put impure water into your body. Spring water is usually weakly purified, but may have the added benefit of minerals. When you drink any water, the water will generally carry minerals, vitamins, and other nutrients out from your body along with waste. Spring water contains many of the minerals you lose when you drink water, so it is a good idea to drink spring water for its ability to replace lost minerals. These minerals may or may not be worth the impurities, but personally, I prefer to take a high quality multivitamin to replace any minerals I lose daily from drinking non-mineral water.

Purified water has many toxic substances removed via a filtering system. This is much healthier water with fewer impurities. Distilled water is water in a chamber that is heated to steam, which is then moved into an adjacent chamber where it is condensed and turned back into water. This distillation process leaves the water almost totally pure. This is the most pure of waters and almost any toxic substances are left behind in the first chamber when the water is turned into steam and rises into the final chamber. The main argument people make about distilled water is that you lose a lot of minerals when you drink it. Once again, I suggest a mineral supplement to replace those lost minerals, rather than drinking less pure water that contains minerals, such as spring water.

Alkaline water, such as Perrier, club soda, and other waters that are advertised as high alkaline, may or may not be filtered. The common denominator between these beverages is the presence of carbonation. Usually the process that makes the water alkaline also kills germs, although it would still need purification from toxic chemicals and the like. Regrettably, there is a large drawback in that alkaline water can interfere with digestion. Your digestion requires stomach acid and the alkaline quality of the water can interfere with stomach acid, thereby preventing it from properly breaking down food. People who drink alkaline waters and even bicarbonate sodas right before meals or during meals are interfering with their digestion. An easy rule to remember (which I’ve mentioned in a prior post), is to always drink these beverages at least 20 minutes after meals in order to allow your stomach acid time to work on your food. Do not drink them before or during meals if you care about proper digestion.

You may remember a previous post wherein I discussed Anemia, a disease which results when a person is too alkaline. It is important that a person know if they are too alkaline before drinking alkaline drinks. If your body’s pH is alkaline, stay away from carbonated beverages and alkaline water. Refer to my post on acid/alkaline balance to learn how to test your alkaline level at home.

My daughter’s boyfriend, who drinks Perrier constantly throughout the day, recently began complaining about fatigue. I gave him a pH strip (discussed in my acid/alkaline balance post) and we were surprised to discover that his pH was close to 7.5, almost anemic in measurement. I suggested that his over consumption of Perrier may be influencing his body to the degree that it could be part of the reason for his fatigue.

A recent trend in the bottled water industry is the marketing of water that is said to possess higher oxygen content than competitors. The jury is still out on this one. I don’t drink these waters because extra oxygen most likely means more free radicals. We discussed in another post that there is almost universal consensus over the past several decades that free radical damage is the main reason for disease, degeneration, and aging. I am cautious about drinking water that may increase my free radical production.

Everyone: Realize that the type of water you drink can influence your health a great deal. You drink water everyday. Take extra care to choose wisely, as this is an important area of healthy living.

Remember that any drinking water carries some minerals out of your body through urine, regardless of its mineral content or method of filtration. All waters being equal in this regard, I find it most beneficial to drink distilled water for its purity and lack of toxicity, and take supplements to replace the minerals I lose from regular water drinking.