From the day of diagnosis of PD onward, a patient must respect the disease process, because Parkinson’s ultimately has the upper hand. But there are 8,760 hours in a year, and Neurologist visits for the year may total less than two hours, so patients would do well to realize that during the other 8,758 hours, they have some ability to take charge of their health, fighting back sensibly, subsequently improving their symptoms, possibly slowing their own disease process, and maybe even (to some extent) re-wiring their brains. Patients should be encouraged to be proactive in their own health.

The Parkinson’s Pyramid® is an empowering health strategy, not a specific program. It is the strategy I developed to take charge of my own health, and which seems to be working. The Parkinson’s Pyramid® is a take-off on the food pyramid, and can be used by PD and other patients living with neurodegenerative disease to take charge of their own health, with the goals of:

• Increasing Quality of Life
• Helping patients feel like they are fighting back
• Optimistically raising the chances that an individual patient will be better functioning a year from now (which is counter to conventional teaching about neurodegenerative diseases).

The Parkinson’s Pyramid® is also the name of my new instructional DVD about a multi-focal strategy for health recovery and maintenance, specifically targeted to patients with neurodegenerative disease. It is not intended to represent the opinion of any particular researcher or organization. It is not intended to be medical advice; you should check with your doctor about any changes you are planning to make in your medical care. It is interesting that this strategy would more or less still hold true tomorrow even if there were a miraculous breakthrough in Parkinson’s therapy today, i.e., even if your “parkinsonism” improves, you still have to protect your health.