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Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch
I think that this is being presented as a cure all way before its been completely tested.
From a personal side, my cousin's wife is a incredible and smart and energetic lady, she wa at one time a highly acclaim athlete. Then she got Parkinson's and we've watched her degrade to the point where she's losing control over her body, she shakes and tires quickly. She's worked hard to educate herself, she's traveled to conferences, she's getting desparate and looking for anything that will help her because I thinks she's scared that this disease will impact her ability to take care of her kids.
So she goes to the states and a doctor that she see's convinces her that Liberation is a alternative treatment that not only works on MS but works on most other neurological diseases. Tells her that she has nothing to lose, and books her for the process at a cost of I think $10k.
So her and my cousin scrape up the money, borrowing where they can and she gets the surgery done. And nothing her symptoms have actually become a bit more pronounced.
So what's my point you might ask. My point is we still don't know how effective this is in terms of real full clinical trials which are ongoing. But its become an incredibly emotional debate because it offers hope, and now its prescription is spreading because its a relatively quick and easy procedure that can generate large money for specialists peddling hope.
Hey I hope that this is the right process and it relieves suffering, but I'm reading that its success rate isn't confirmed or stunningly high yet.
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Not to be a downer, but given that Parkinsons is caused by the destruction of dopamine producing cells in the substantial nigra region of the brain, and the fact that dopamine cannot cross the blood-brain barrier, opening up blood flow makes zero-sense as a treatment for Parkinson.
Of course, given the etiology of MS, I would have said the same thing about MS and I guess the jury's still out on that, so who knows...
One would think that, with either disorder, if oxygenation of the brain or removal of waste metabolites were the issue, they would have known a long time ago, and I'm not sure what other role increased blood flow would have on the destruction of either myelin or the dopaminergic cells of the substantia nigra.