complementary and alternative therapies

Anonymous
Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 9:43 am Post subject: complementary and alterantive therapies

There are time when they and families feel hopless,times when feel desperate about medical situation. In these movement they tend to complementary and alternative therapies, no matter how unrealistic or far-fetched they appear or how they cost. Therefore, there are growing interest for parkinson's patients in alternative and complementary medicine or therapies who will live with disease for a longer peroid of time. The CAM offers helpful information related to non motor and motor symptoms i.e proper diet, exercise, constipation, fatigue, insomina, massage, pain managment, Tai chi, rehabilation,speech therapy,acupuncture,spa treatment & etc. As the result they try the above therapy to minimize their usage of medication they take to increase comfort or minimize effect of the physical or mental on them. Why there are some doctors who do not pleased for the above therapies as they are yet proven? Kindly brief their potential benefits and risks for the complementary/ alterative therapies Regards
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Dr. FernandezJoined: 20 Jan 2007Posts: 90
Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 9:00 am Post subject:

I just responded to your earlier message. But know I relaize that CAM means complimentary and alterantive therapies. The good news is that good and proper research is underway on Tai Chi and Exercise. So we will know the exact benefits of those very soon. Our preliminary data on exercise is very compelling though, so we advocate this for all our patients. As for the others, none of the current vitamins work, unfortunately. CoQ10 and creatine are still being studied. Our current (good) data are not impressive for glutathione, Vit E, vit. C, and accupuncture. I hope this helps. Yours,_________________Hubert H. Fernandez



Anonymous
Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 8:48 pm Post subject: Exercise benefits

Doctor, I wish you guys would study pilates for pd patients. My husband takes pilates twice a week. He takes 60 minute solo lessons and he really gets his butt kicked. It's not classic pilates but more of power pilates. During all moves, he is encouraged to inhale deeply and give a forceful exhalation upon exertion. Most of the moves require balance from the core. I know it has decreased his falls. Every muscle group is worked and stretched. I know his instructor is especially talented but I truly believe it should be a basic for PD patients. My husband has moderately severe to severe PD and has been doing pilates for 2 years. I hope we never have to rely on PT because insurance only pays for 8-10 sessions then the patient has to decline to receive another PT order. With pilates, we don't have to experience the decline except for the normal progression of pd.
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Dr. OkunJoined: 19 Jan 2007Posts: 251Location: University of Florida
Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 10:57 am Post subject:

Thanks for the wonderful comments. I have a number of patients who also swear by pilates. I think the exercise must be tailored to the person and what they can handle and suspect the research will show many effective strategies._________________Michael S. Okun, M.D

Anonymous	Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 2:54 pm Post subject: alternative and complementary medicine My own experience yields at least one winner and it is evident, for me at least, in two to four days. I know that this is anecdotal but my grant check has not shown up yet. ;-) The combination of alpha lipoic acid (400 mg) and acetyl-l-carnitine (3 g) boosts me across the board, purportedly by improving mitochondrial function. Dr. Bruce Ames has published on this a dozen or so times and the effect is impressive.
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Dr. Okun Joined: 19 Jan 2007 Posts: 251 Location: University of Florida	Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 7:15 pm Post subject: Thanks for the nice comments. I have patients who take these supplements and swear by them. We just don't know if they are effective in PD, or against symptoms of PD as we don's have the data. We are therefore not recommending patients expend dollars on them, but at least in my practice I do not object if they would like to try them. _________________ Michael S. Okun, M.D.
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