Sydney Meeting

We both had a good day today.  Got to the Conference Centre on time and had a profitable day with lots of new information,  including that smokers and coffee drinkers have less of a chance of getting Parkinson's ( they may get other illnesses though) and also that dairy products may be implicated , possibly because of spraying of pastures with insecticides.

Sat next to a nice geriatrician and met up with a few  NZ people which was good. D came back at lunch time and shared my very big lunch of wraps, seafood noodles, cake, fruit and juice ,then went away again and returned at afternoon tea time and stayed for the last session or two. 

There are about 400 participants, half people with Parkinson's, the rest carers, spouses or health professionals. 

The speakers including two from NZ, Prof Tim Anderson from Otago and Dr Barry Snow from Auckland covered a wide range of topics from emerging therapies (Tim Amderson), environmental factors  ( Louis Tan) such as pesticides ( not all people who have contact with them will develop PD - it depends whether the body is able to metabolise the toxicant).

 The genetics of Parkinson's presented by Thomas Gasser was interesting and I learn and understand a little bit more each time I hear about such a complex subject. They think it is years later before the symptoms of a Parkinson's gene mutation present themselves and they don't know the causes yet but just what contributes to it.  

Angelo Antonini from Venice spoke about new treatments,  such as a once-a-day pill, patches , infusions and pumps, as well as the shortcomings of some present ones. 

The afternoon sessions kicked off with an update on causes of Parkinson's disease by Thomas Kimber who said it was the complex interplay of genetics and environmental factors with clumps of misfolded cell material spreading from one affected cell to neighbouring cells.

Then it was Barry Snow who gave an overview on cell therapy past and present finishing with details of the Auckland Island encapsulated pig cell transplants which are in the pipeline for a few people with Parkinson's. These pigs don't have any diseases which could also be transplated because they were isolated on the sub-Antarctic islands for over 100 years and some are now kept in very strict conditions with very few people having access to them so they don't develop any in the future. 

Bastian Bloem was the last speaker of the day and was very entertaining .  He was the Dutch neurologist who had the patient who could ride a bike but not walk and he showed us the video of him doing so. I hope the stationary bike and spin bike at the gym have the same beneficial effect. He also showed a clip of a Czech man with PD who biked down steps, climbed a vertical ladder on to the roof of a building and who could walk on stilts! 

He spoke on ways of improving gait by drugs, surgery but also physiotherapy, speech and language therapy and occupational therapy.  He informed us that patients often develop compensatory strategies to cope with such problems as freezing , the most common cause of falls.  They may not be able to walk very well but some can run.  They can use cues such as a raised or coloured strip on the floor to overcome freezing.  Someone even found bouncing a ball alongside him while walking  ie dual tasking helped him walk better.  

The key thing is to keep active which may slow the progression of Parkinson's, change your behaviour to use the stairs not the lift or escalator and if all else feels get yourself a coach to motivate and encourage you. If you want to avoid falls get rid of the clutter of obstacles in the home because it is lack of space needed to turn that often causes falls in PWP.  Get dancing or fill your life with music and rhythm , there is something for everyone to try.

And that was the end of day one.