REASON FOR TREATMENT: David was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 1993. During the last two years his condition has deteriorated significantly.
DIAGNOSIS: Parkinson's Disease stage IV (Hoehn/Yahr scale)
TREATMENT: hRPE stem cells implantation (human Retinal Pigment Epithelial cells, adult stem cells) by stereotactic brain injection + nutritious stem cell cocktail treatment (intravenous).
BEGINNING OF TREATMENT: March 15th 2007
CONDITION BEFORE THE TREATMENT:
See Videos: before1, before2
After 13 years of taking anti-Parkinson's medications David was suffering both from the Parkinson's symptoms and from Dyskinesia (unvolutary movements) - a side effect caused by the medications.
During his 'off-times', when the influence of the medications wear off and before the next dosage starts to affect, his muscles became rigid to the point that he was not able to walk, to talk or to move any part of his body. He could not eat, drink water and had difficulty swallowing. Those off times could persist from 1 to 3 hours each time.Usually, about one hour after taking his medications the rigidity was gone.
During his on-times, under the influence of the medications, David was able to move without difficulty. However, he suffered from Dyskinesia ? involuntary movements, the side effect of many years of taking anti-Parkinson's medications.
David used to take his medications 8 times a day (every three hours). Since eating Protein delayed the effectiveness of the medications, David couldn't eat protein and lost a lot of weight during the last 5 years.
Another major difficulty that David experienced since his condition began to deteriorate was difficulty emptying his bowl and bladder, which caused him daily pain and inconvenience.
AFTER THE TREATMENT:
See Videos: after1, after2
6 weeks after the beginning of the treatment David's most noticeable improvement was that his off-times were shorter and less debilitating. Sometimes he didn't have any off- time at all during the day. After the treatment, when he did have off-time, he was not as rigid as before and was still able to walk, to talk and to drink water.
His medications were reduced to half the dosage that he used to take before, and he was now taking them 4 times a day instead of 8 times a day, which had a major effect on his quality of life, his ability to eat meals and more protein.
David started to gain some weight and felt that he was getting stronger. His voice got stronger as well.
David still suffers from Dyskinesia and hopes that over time he will be able to reduce his medications even more in order to reduce the side effects of the drugs.
3 months after discharge (5 months after the beginning of treatment):
On August 2007, David's wife Vida reported:
"David feels that he's improving. he still has his bad off times sometimes, but overall his off times are shorter. He was able to drop his Sinemet to 4 tablets a day, and he is taking Mucuna Pruriens (a plant that has natural concentration of Dopamine) besides Sinemet.
He is also back to his woodworking......"
Last Update ( Friday 17 August 2007 )
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