Permethrin and Parkinson's

[oldgringo]

Well, I won the lottery and got Parkinson's. I was reading up on the causes of the disease and something lept off the page at me. See for yourself and draw your own conclusions.

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-rele...39;s%20disease.

[SilvrSurfr]

Well, that's unfortunate, for you as well as for permethrin users. On the other hand, Wikipedia says, "Environmental risk factors of note are exposure to pesticides, and prior head injuries. Coffee drinkers, tea drinkers, and tobacco smokers are at a reduced risk."

I've had quite a few head injuries, but I drink a lot of coffee and I smoke, so maybe I'm at a reduced risk.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson's_disease

[psyculman]

Sorry to hear that, hope you can mitigate it successfully.

[WV]

Thanks, Gringo. I feel better about all the years when I didn't get around to dosing my camp clothes with permethrin. Of course my "camp clothes" are my regular duds, so I'd be constantly in trouble, if the risk is significant. In these latter days I've started using insect repellent again (just Picaridin, and only when in danger of inhaling gnats.) We pick our poison, largely unwittingly, it seems. Just concentrate on what you need to do to feel or get better. And keep reading.

[rhjanes]

Sorry for your diagnosis. Lots of "may" and "Could" but that research is still ongoing. Interesting was that higher concentrations/exposure didn't cause a higher incident, leading to think that exposure time factors in.
Maybe if we rub mud on ourselves? It worked against the "Predator".

[Draketake]

Prayer sent for you.

Bob

[gargoyle]

Sorry to hear that OG.

[FLTurtle]

Buddy of mine has been dealing with Parkinsons for almost a decade now. Was able to control the tremors with meds, but over the years they've had to up the frequency and the dosage. He recently had surgery to implant a neurostimulator. After all the checks, they switched it on last month.

I asked him how it went. He said after the appointment, he went to breakfast with his daughter. Sent me this pic:

2023-02-12_12-23-18_614.jpeg

They've had to do some minor adjustments at his docs office, but he has a controller that has a small range where he can tune it up or down based on how the tremors happen. He's still on the meds, but not the amount he was taking...something like from every 8 hours instead of every 3.

I wish you the best of luck and hope that your docs come up with an effective treatment plan.

[Watertooner]

My 80 year old uncle says frequently that he won't die of Parkinson's, just with. He's very knowledgeable about the meds he takes and will advocate against any staff in his facility that try to dose him outside (usually too late) of the optimal timetable. He even left one facility and moved to another when they proved unreliable.

[DocTheo]

It's important to note that the study cited by this article refers specifically to the risk for exposure to agrochemicals including permethrin to individuals with the SNCA-A53T mutation, one of 6 specific genetic mutations linked to Parkinsonian syndromes, and found in less than 5-7 percent of those individuals suffering from Parkinson's disease. Specifically, those with mutation seems to be sensitive to the way that the agrochemicals react with proteins in nanotubules in dopamine-specific nerve fibers, causing increases in alpha-synuclein mediated neurofibril tangles. However, the majority of people do not seem to be at greater risk for this, and individuals with the mutation have increased risk factors in general for Parkinson's, not only from environmental exposures including permethrin, but overall.

In other words, if you have the mutation, your risk is increased. Exposure to permethrin increases it further. If you do not have the mutation, exposure to permethrin does not appear to increase your risk of Parkinson's.

And if you have Parkinson's, it may have nothing to do with exposure to permethrin.

None of which takes anything away from my sympathy for your diagnosis, Oldgringo - best to you, and I hope that you and your medical team find the ideal pathway forward for you. There's a lot of promising research going on on the PD frontier. I'm not into a lot of it, as I'm more Pediatric-focused, but I get bits of information from the fringes. All my best to you.