Here's Why I Believe That I Don't Have Parkinson's Disease

[barbaranoela]

grannyh
when did U get back???

Barbara

[ant]

Dear Gloria, I hope you do not mind if I build on your point...

a biopsy finally gave the correct diagnosis.

Wikipedia has the following definition of medical diagnosis (my emphasis in red):

In medicine, diagnosis (plural, diagnoses) is a label given for a medical condition or disease identified by its signs, symptoms, and from the results of various diagnostic procedures. The term "diagnostic criteria" designates the combination of signs, symptoms, and test results that allows the clinician to ascertain the diagnosis of the respective disease.

However, it has two distinct dictionary definitions. The first definition is "the recognition of a disease or condition by its outward signs and symptoms," while the second definition is "the analysis of the underlying physiological/biochemical cause(s) of a disease or condition."

Of course, it is the second definition that can give most hope of finding a cure. So, I think the biopsies can give a correct diagnosis in terms of "outward signs and symptoms", but only a "better" definition (than IBS) in terms of "analysis of the underlying....cause(s) of the disease or condition". After all, GIs tell us that what causes the LC or CC is still unknown. It is, perhaps, only Dr Fine's tests and all the aggregation of analysis and discussion on this board that start to get closer to a diagnosis of "underlying causes", but even this is still very much 'work in progress'.

I also think that the distinction between the two meanings of "diagnosis" is at the heart of the DX of Parkinson's Disease and Tex's ability to unravel this by a focus on possible "underlying causes".

all best, Ant

[Gloria]

Ant,

Good point. I don't think that GIs will start to focus on the cause of MC until they can properly test for all possible causes and/or antibodies. It's easy to tell Celiacs what to eliminate because they are reacting to one and only one food item.

Even if my GI were to agree that I'm reacting to food I ingest, he would have given up a long time ago trying to determine which foods are problematic. Outside of the Enterolab tests, it's a guessing game. I've probably given up 90% of the foods I formerly ate, but I'm still not able to wean off Entocort. It would be fantastic if there were accurate tests to determine all of the offenders.

That said, I don't think that most people willingly give up their treasured foods. When I told my GI's nurse that I was gluten free, she said "Oh, that's a very difficult diet," followed by the comment that my blood test didn't show I was a Celiac. I think that the simplest solution will be the one most embraced (presently Entocort ). If a pill is designed that protects the colon so that it's impervious to irritants and intolerances, then GIs will readily prescribe that pill, as long as the side effects are minimal.

Gloria

[grannyh]

I know people who would be helped by entocort but the GI docs refuse to prescribe it using steroids instead claiming steroids are the accepted treatment.. what they don't tell the patient is that massive doses of steroids is not only cheap it is dangerous! Anyone on an HMO doesn't have much of a chance of a doctor prescribing entocort because of the cost.
grannyh

[tex]

Anyone on an HMO doesn't have much of a chance of a doctor prescribing entocort because of the cost.

That's depressing, but I don't doubt that it's true.

Tex