15 Early Signs Of Parkinson's Disease That You Shouldn't Ignore

Last updated on 18 NOV 2017

What Is Parkinson’s Disease?

The Parkinson Foundation explains Parkinson’s Disease as follows:

“Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neuro-degenerative brain disorder that progresses slowly in most people. A person’s brain may stop producing a neurotransmitter called dopamine. With lesser dopamine, a person has lesser ability to regulate their movements, body and emotions.”

The Symptoms Of Parkinson’s Disease

Some symptoms of PD are difficult to detect even by the specialists, while others are obvious to even untrained eyes. Parkinson’s symptoms are different for every patient. Like any other chronic diseases, the degree that the disease worsen differs in every individual depending on their genes, diet, lifestyle and their exposure to environmental toxins.

Some of the common symptoms of Parkinson’s:

• Constipation
• Slowness of movement
• Loss of spontaneous and voluntary movement
• Stiffness in a limb or other body parts
• Uncontrollable movement that affects a limb at rest
• Difficulty standing or walking, with impaired balance and coordination
• Abnormal body posture, stooping or hunching over
• Reduced facial expression, uncontrolled facial muscles, drooling
• Slurring speech, having soft/low voice, and swallowing problems
• Loss of sense of smell
• Decline in ability to multi-task
• Decline in intellectual functioning
• Depression and anxiety
• Trouble sleeping
• Low blood pressure, feeling dizzy or fainting

As a result of this disease that is a deterioration of brain health and the central nervous system, if left untreated, some sufferers may also experience other brain issues such as Alzheimer’s Disease, dementia, severe depression and anxieties that may result in suicidal thoughts.

Causes Of Parkinson’s Disease

As identified by specialists, the main cause of PD is the brain’s inability to produce dopamine. But, what makes the brain not able to produce dopamine? Your health is in your hands. Be educated and take charge.

Here are some of the reasons that contribute to the deterioration of not only PD but also neurological health:

• Poisoning by heavy metal and organic toxins such as pesticides, herbicides and artificial food additives
• Excessive oxidative stress that cause inflammation in the brain
• Long term use of OTC drugs, recreational drugs, medications and antibiotics
• Prolonged stress
• Excessive iron intake, especially that from iron supplements, in the attempt to remedy low blood pressure
• Diabetes or excessive consumption of sugar
• Various nutrient deficiencies

How To Reverse Parkinson’s Disease Naturally

By understanding the real causes of a disease, one will be able to reverse the disease by stopping the cause.

New discoveries and studies are also proving that our gut is our “second brain”. The deterioration of our gut health is linked to the deterioration of our brain health. Understanding these facts will help you to undo the damages, and do what is right, for our intelligent body to heal by itself.

1. Detoxification

I always say that when you STOP putting harmful chemicals into your body, detoxification STARTS. In your own environment, analyze for yourself, your exposure to heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides, artificial food additives, drugs, sugar and other environmental toxins.

These poisons/toxins suffocate your cells. By eliminating them from your body, you help your cells to start living again.

There are various detox methods that you can do to help your body purge out the poisons, before any nutrients you take can be beneficial.

• A gastrointestinal cleanse is foremost important to improve regularity and your gut health.

• A liver cleanse and nutritional support is necessary to help the liver filter the blood more effectively. Beetroot juice is one of the most effective foods for this purpose.

• Heavy metal poisoning is difficult to detoxify unless you know what foods help.

• A juice cleanse helps to detoxify the system.

Detoxification is a very wide topic and with every individual, the circumstances may be different. There are many other detoxification articles on this website, and the above are just a few examples of what may help.

To help effectiveness of any detoxification, drinking plenty of water is essential. Learn what is the minimum amount of water your body requires, and then drink more.

2. Eat More Organic, Fresh, Raw Fruits And Vegetables

It is a known fact that eating more fresh, raw fruits and vegetables is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle. Fruits and vegetables provide your body with all the nutrients that your body needs, without any side effect: Phytonutrients, antioxidants, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, flavonoids, amino acids, fiber and anti-inflammatory properties.

When eating processed and fast foods, they are void of these nutrients on their own, but require them for digesting the foods,  thus causing nutrient deficiencies that contribute to deterioration of health.

If you don’t eat much fruits and vegetables now, then you will have a lot to catch up on. Drinking freshly extracted juices will help speed up your healing. The key is to eat/drink of them raw and organic (without pesticides).

Green juices contain high levels of chlorophyll that is powerful in healing of the gut and to detoxify the body of heavy metals. So it makes sense to start drinking green juices in small amount, gradually building up the amount to up to 2-3 glasses of green juices a day.

If drinking green juices is a hassle for you, a good alternative is making your own moringa tea or green matcha tea that are very rich in chlorophyll and anti-cancer properties.

3. Avoid Excess Iron

The main cause of PD is due to heavy metal toxicity in the blood. Heavy metal poisoning also cause low blood pressure that results in dizziness and fainting.

With initial diagnosis, most PD sufferers may be prescribed iron supplements. For not knowing the harm of iron supplements, PD sufferers who are on it for an extended period, may find that their brain health will further deteriorate quickly.

This is especially so in male PD sufferers who have no way of losing blood, unlike women who have their monthly menstruation. Do you see the vicious cycle here?

Excess iron resulting from iron supplements cause iron overload (a condition a.k.a. hemochromatosis) that contribute to oxidation of the blood and to the brain cells.

4. Eat Fermented Foods For Probiotics

Our lack of gut health or any digestive disorders are usually starts from having a severely imbalanced gut flora.

Many people underestimate the importance of gut health and often disregard the care of a healthy gut, and eating foods that undermine gut health.

Fermented foods are some of the best foods for replenishing your gut with beneficial bacteria to strengthen gut health and the immune system.

Some of the fermented foods you could add to your diet include kefir, kombucha tea, sauerkraut, kimchi and tempeh (fermented soy).

By replenishing your gut flora with beneficial bacteria, it will enable your body to break down environmental toxins and detoxify heavy metals more efficiently.

5. Eat Good Mood Foods

• Since PD is about the brain not being able to produce dopamine. It makes sense then, to help the body by eating foods that will help with dopamine production.

• Eat nuts and seeds that have healthy content of Omega 3. Omega 3 contain two essential fatty acids that are crucial to brain health: DHA and EPA. Half of your brain is made up of DHA fat that wards off brain inflammation, promotes neuron growth and protects neurotransmitters function.

• Eat these superfoods that help improve brain health. These foods contain the essential fats and nutrients necessary to reduce brain inflammation. You’ll be surprised to know that eggs is one of the healthiest foods that help boost brain power. And coconut oil has been proven to help reverse Alzheimer’s—it might do the same for Parkinson’s.

• Include foods that are high in antioxidants that help to neutralize the free radicals that attack the brain.

• Include foods that are high in anti-inflammatory properties that not only help reduce inflammation in the body, but also in the brain.

6. Important Supplements That May Help

Once you stop putting toxins into your body and eat clean, the trillions of cells in your body will be able to start living normally again. Eating the right foods and taking the necessary supplements will now begin to boost your brain health and healing.

Here are some supplements that will speed up the reversal of PD symptoms:

• Magnesium:  First and foremost on the list is magnesium. Low intake of this mineral magnesium, enables the deposition of excess calcium, heavy metals and toxins in the brain that leads to Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. When there is adequate presence of magnesium, heavy metals cannot be absorbed in the small intestines. Magnesium plays a vital role in protecting neurons from the lethal effects of aluminium and mercury poisoning.

• B vitamins:  A deficiency in vitamins B9 (folate) and B12 (cobalamin) can cause brain problems that will initially manifest as depression, anxiety or even psychosis. The other B vitamins are useful for protecting against age-related brain wasting, and possibly prevent memory loss.

• Glutathione:  Glutathione is the mother of all antioxidants and is powerful in neutralizing free radicals damage and greatly reduce oxidative stress that destroy neurons.

• Curcumin: Turmeric has an active ingredient, curcumin, that has shown powerful benefits for brain health. Curcumin is neuroprotective and studies have shown that it reduces oxidative stress, mitochondria dysfunction and cell death—some of the main factors of early Parkinson’s disease. Learn how you can supercharge the healing properties of curcumin.

• Grape seed extract:  Has super antioxidant effect that reduces DNA fragmentation in the brain. It is able to cross into the brain to protect brain cells from free radical damage.

• L-Tyrosine:  Is a non-essential amino acid used to manufacture certain hormones and neurotransmitters, including dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, and thyroxine. The brain needs these neurotransmitters that help you to concentrate, focus, be alert, make new memories, sharpen your senses, decreasing pain sensitivity, and help you cope with stress. Lacking these will cause a chaotic situation in the brain.
• L-Taurine:  Is another non-essential amino acid that helps your brain to control stress and anxiety by lowering cortisol. It is a potent brain nutrient that fights brain inflammation. Certainly beneficial to have this nutrient for its calming effect that also helps induce sleep.

About Sara Ding

Sara Ding is the founder of Juicing-for-Health.com. She is a certified Wellness Health Coach, Nutritional Consultant and a Detox Specialist. She helps busy men and women identify their health issues at the root cause, in order to eliminate the problems for optimum physical/mental health and wellbeing.

Read more