A Renegade With Parkinson’s

I am a renegade with Parkinson’s Disease. Since my diagnosis two years ago, I knew I would not follow the standard protocol of managing symptoms with dopamine pharmaceuticals. This dopamine protocol is known as the “golden standard” for symptomatic relief and has been around since the early 1960s. Little to nothing has advanced since then.

No one has ever been cured by taking dopamine. It is used only for mitigating symptoms at the cost of many serious side effects. Those side effects intensify when the dose must be increased due to drug tolerance; a phenomenon that occurs when the body's response to a medication or substance decreases over time with repeated use (think heroin, for example). This means that a person will need to take a higher dose of the medication over time to achieve the same effect they experienced initially.  

Some of the primary side effects are tremors, dyskinesia (uncontrollable repetitive jerky movements), mood disorder, body stiffness, compulsive disorder, and sleep disorder. Some of these are the very symptoms of PD. Increased doses not only intensify the side effects but can bring on psychosis and Alzheimer's symptoms. After a time, it is impossible to know if the symptom is from PD or the meds. I believe many of the side effects of taking dopamine are now considered PD symptoms.  

Any neurologist will tell you that Parkinson’s is a progressively degenerative disease with no cure, to find a physical therapist, and get on the meds. Period. Full stop. Mine was no exception.

It was under these grim circumstances that I decided to forge my own path.

I could accept that I was diagnosed with Parkinson's, but I could not accept that I was never going to get better. Every fiber of my being knew that I could heal from this disease.

I am of the belief that the body always moves toward homeostasis to heal itself. 

There is consensus that a Parkinson’s body is a toxified body due to environmental exposure to herbicides, pesticides, Agent Orange, and the like. There may be other causes, but the jury is still out on this. Our use of pesticides and herbicides in mono crops, big agriculture, GMO food, to spraying lawns, gardens, and golf courses with neurotoxins like glyphosates, Roundup, etc. has contributed to the explosion of neurological diseases, including Parkinson's, MS, and Alzheimer's. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the global prevalence of Parkinson's disease (PD) rose from 3.15 million cases in 1990 to 11.77 million in 2021, representing a 274% increase. 

A Parkinson's body is unable to rid itself of toxins like most people can. 

My first line of action was to clean up my diet, detoxify my body, and get all my organs working again. It was clear my body wasn’t functioning properly with poor digestion, restless nights, poor nutrient absorption, poor elimination, and many more subtle signs of toxification.

Enter Howard Shifke and his book Fighting Parkinson’s and Winning.

Howard explains his journey with healing his own Parkinson's, drug-free, using a daily formula of Eastern modalities including medical Qigong, brain vibration through toning and chanting, a clean diet, Jin Shin Jyutsu, acupuncture, meditation, and inner spiritual work. This combination is called "The Recipe for Recovery."  

At that time, I took up many of the practices and took a course on Qigong. It would be a year or so later that I would adopt the full program and start coaching with Howard, who would advise me to drop much of the protocol suggested by the naturopathic medical community that I had added to the mix. It was actually making me worse.

When my naturopath told me to get more aerobic exercise, I added 2 to 3 sessions a week (swimming a half mile or zumba class) to already walking the dog every day, Qigong every day, Pickle Ball twice a week, yoga once a week, and a Thursday night Salsa lesson while running an esoteric spiritual school,  sound healing practice, and teaching piano. That's how crazy I was and hell bent on getting rid of this disease. It is how I ran my body once again into the ground. Little did I know that all the research on aerobic exercise was done on test subjects who were on dopamine. The aerobic exercise was to mitigate the side effects of the meds. 

With Howard, I recognized my body was neurologically “constantly firing off” and in desperate need of rest, not more adrenaline-based activity.

I did the work of detoxing my body through my diet as well. Just as a safeguard, I eliminated dairy, processed meats, coffee, alcohol, sugar, processed food, seed oils like canola (aka rapeseed), safflower, sunflower, and grains. Everything I put in my body was organic and non-GMO (free of pesticides and herbicides). To this, I added an ayurvedic cleanse for three months known as The Prime Diet, designed by a neurologist and Ayurvedic doctor named Kulreet Chaudhary.

I still follow this nutrition plan minus the cleanse element and can now make exceptions here and there with grains, sourdough bread my husband makes, and going out to eat. 

I believe abundant health of body, mind, and spirit is achieved through balance. 

When I was first diagnosed with Parkinson's, I went at my recovery just as I have done everything else in my life, from a career as a classical pianist to meditation to raising children to running an esoteric school. I overworked myself, over-achieved, over-delivered, and overrode my body and always have (apparently a common trait amongst Parkies). My cortisol was high, and I operated off adrenaline rather than dopamine. I believe this is what has contributed gravely to my body, mind, and spirit being out of balance. This inner environment could not rid my body of toxins on so many levels.

Parkinson's is the cumulative manifestation of this pattern on a most coarse level…the physical level. This, however, cannot be approached by remedying just the body but rather by reaching something deeper in my Being. My conditioned response to overdo comes from a deep level of identification with needing to be loved, and I have worked on this for the better part of my life through self-observation, meditation, and understanding this tendency in moments of Presence, where the attachment was released.

My “overkill" pattern got me very far in my career, in my level of freedom from 30 years of disciplined daily meditation, and in my ability to boldly step outside the status quo and take the road less travelled, most likely because it was more challenging. I strove toward a difficult path of being a high-level classical pianist not only because I loved music but because it might have gotten me the recognition and love from my own parents as well as overall societal approval, attention, and love. I was not aware of this at the time, as it was part of my conditioned safety mechanism. It would take 20 years of performing piano on international stages before I freed myself of this burden and simply played from my heart without caring about what anybody thought. 

Now all of the striving and overachieving has come to a head in the form of Parkinson's, a condition in which I am forced to listen carefully to my body and my heart and my soul. A Parkinson's body requires the balance of rest and movement every day. Activities must be dopamine-based rather than adrenaline-based. My Being must recognize when I am slipping into the old pattern of wanting to achieve something when the necessary action is to let go and accept what I can and cannot do.

I believe my total recovery depends on this acceptance and doing what brings me joy. 

The shift is subtle, but everything I do must truly bring me joy, and I must do it only for that very reason. What a great prescription for life!! What a wonderful thing to be doing something because it simply brings me joy. I don't do anything anymore because I think I should do it. I do something because it brings me joy. Every day that I am joyful, I counteract the fear of having Parkinson's.  

I play pickleball because it makes me laugh and enjoy life. I play the piano because it fulfills the depths of my soul. I meditate because I am perfectly still (literally no tremors) in the unity of God, where there is no Parkinson's. I do my Qigong with full presence of mind, body, and soul every morning, moving Qi, air, blood, fluid, and Jen. I rest when my body says it needs that…no matter what. I derive enormous satisfaction working with students in groups, on retreats, and one-on-one. I am immersed in Nature on the island, which brings a quiet stillness.

I no longer worry that I still have some symptoms of Parkinson's because my organs are functioning properly now, and I have eliminated approximately 15 major PD symptoms so far. I no longer have pain in my body. I sleep well every night. Despite conventional medical wisdom, I am getting better, not worse.

My recovery is imminent. 

I will keep you posted.

More articles on Molly’s journey with Parkinson’s:

Facing Parkinson’s With Fearlessness in 2024

Healing Parkinson’s With Sound