CURING THE TERRIBLE DISEASES
Home Page
Phytonutrients
Drug Side Effects
Giants of Science
Schizophrenia
Parkinson's Disease
Drug Abuse
Neuropathology
The Human Brain
Parkinson's Disease
by Craig Olson
This terrible disease of dopamine metabolism may be a relative of schizophrenia. Psychiatric symptoms are often seen, as well as involuntary movements. One theory is that a neurotoxin is involved which may kill off dopamine neurons. Support for this theory comes from the well-known fact that many psychiatric drugs produce a man-made form of Parkinson's. These Parkisonian side effects include tardive dyskinesia, a terrible form of involuntary movements, often of the face. Parkinson himself had the original disease long before psychiatric drugs were invented. A report in the Journal of Neurochemistry (1996) suggests dimethoxyphenylethylamine, the same substance implicated in schizophrenia, as a possible culprit. It seems that DMPEA was a mitochondrial toxin in this study. It inhibited "mitochondrial respiration and complex I activity". "Compunds with dimethoxy residues in the phenyl ring were associated with more potent inhibition of complex I than those without". Other compounds were also studied. DMPEA is found in certain plants in association with mescaline. These plants are cacti.
Another terrible disease which may also involve an error in dopamine metabolism is Tourette syndrome. This, like schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease, is a brain disease. Parkinson's disease is known to involve the basal ganglia, a cluster of grey matter areas in the subcortcal portion of the brain. The basal ganglia are high in dopamine. Tourette syndrome also includes both involuntary movements (tics in Tourette syndrome) and psychiatric symptoms.
Tourette was a French neurologist of the 19th century. Unfortunately he was never able to come up with a succesful treatment. The same was true of the British doctor Parkinson.
This is a neuron with a myelin sheath on the axon. In multiple sclerosis there are problems with the myelin sheaths.

 

Other terrible movement disorders, and, unfortunately, there are many, include multiple sclerosis are Huntington's chorea. Both have psychiatric symptoms, and both are characterized by neuropathology. Huntington's chorea is a basal ganglia disorder. Multiple sclerosis, which can involve shaking, is a disease in which there is demyelination of the white matter. The mylein sheaths come off of certain neurons, which is disastrous. There have been reports of demyelination in schizophenia.
Some of the terrible diseases are man-made. An example of this is the case of drug abuse, which comes in many different forms. This is such a terrible problem that an entire page of this website will be devoted to it. Drug abuse is a curse or worse!
Drugs of abuse can make you psychotic.