October 19, 2024 • 6 mins
As the world's population get older, there's growing concern about increased rates of Parkinson's disease.
From 1990 to 2015, the number of people with Parkinson disease doubled to over 6 million - and the number is predicted to double again by 2040.
Naturopath and wellness expert Erin O'Hara says it's unclear why these rates have gone up - but there are plenty of environmental factors believed to influence the condition.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News TALKSB I had time to talk. Well listen.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
I'm joined by naturopath Aaron O'Hara. Good morning, Good morning.
You got a really interesting subject for us today. We're
going to talk about Parkinson's and you just told me
a little something there about the difficulty there is for
people who've been diagnosed to see a neurologist in New Zealand.
And I mean I probably shouldn't be surprised. We know
that there are long waitlists to get in to see people,
(00:35):
but I was really taken back.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Yeah, it's actually a major problem here in New Zealand
and getting into most specialists, if you're going privately, usually
you can get in relatively quick. When it comes to neurologists,
they are so overloaded with neurological diseases and actually shortage
as well in New Zealand that the wait time can
be anything from sort of nine to twelve months, which
(00:57):
is absolutely huge. If you have a neurological condition, especially
something like Parkinson's disease developing, and you really need to
see a neurologists, you can really get that support.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
From nineteen ninety to twenty fifteen, the number of people
with parkinson disease doubled to over six million, and that
number is predicted to double again by twenty forty.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Huge, huge numbers, and it's a massive problem, and it's
really really growing very very rapidly. You know, they really
don't know. It remains largely unknown of why these rates
are rising. However, there's things like you know, aging, population increasing,
in longevity declining, sort of smoking rates. There's a whole
(01:41):
lot of industrial, sort of environmental factors that can influence it.
And all of those different things on our body have
a massive effect on how the neurological system works, and
you know, slowing it down. It's a tricky one because
quite often a lot of people have already progressed so
far into the disease before they actually get a diagnosis,
(02:03):
and then it's about either holding it steady or getting
it maybe a little bit reverse, but you can't actually
get it into full remission quite often. What is Parkinson's So,
Parkinson's disease is a neurological disease where predominantly the dopamine
producing neurons in the brain get affected and they either
get impaired or lost, and so that effect has a
(02:25):
huge effect on things like movement disorders to things like
you'll get symptoms like tremors, also slowness and movement rigidity,
and the muscles are real stiffness in the body which
creates actually a lot of pain as well. Changes in
movement and gait as well as some non motor symptoms
are things like depression anxiety. Because obviously dopamine has a
(02:48):
massive effect in your mood, constipation, sleep disorders, as well
as changes in long term, it can also increase the
risk of things like dementia as well.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
There's a lot more symptoms than I thought, a.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Lot a lot of symptoms related to it.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
So does that also make it quite tricky then to
diagnose it does?
Speaker 3 (03:07):
But there's been some interesting new research that comes out
came out really recently around the changes in the gut
and it's a really really interesting study that was done
by Harvard University, and it looked at the gut symptoms
and the development of especially upper gut digestive symptoms are
things like good or reflux as well as things like
(03:28):
constipation and their link towards later on ending up with
Parkinson's disease. And that's not saying that anyone that has
those symptoms is going to end up with Parkinson's disease,
but it is definitely a link that those are sort
of starting symptoms for some people before it develops into
those more motor symptoms conditions like the tremors and the
(03:49):
rigidity that people usually relate to Parkinson's disease.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
With such a wide range of symptoms, then what kind
of treatment is there that can assist with someone like Parkinson's.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
So to really hold it steady, most people will need
medication and they will need to go and see neurologists
to get that. You can't just get it through GP. However,
there's lots of things they can do alongside with lifestyle
in particular, things like exercise is super super helpful for
helping with the rigidity and movement and balance as well
as there's interesting foundations like the Duncan Foundation who does
(04:23):
a lot of it's all funded, you can actually donate
to them, and they do amazing community work where they
give exercises for people to be doing at home, which
will help with a lot with reducing the symptoms from progressing.
Whether it's helping with the rigidity and balance and their
natural supplements things that I like to use. NACS innacetyl
(04:44):
system has some really good research around increasing dopamine transport
binding and it's something that I'll commonly use alongside the medications.
And there's a really good effect also digestive support. So
obviously there's some digestive symptoms from that rigidity, including in
the gut, so that might be constipation or a bit
of reflux. You can really sort of calm symptoms through
(05:07):
using some supplements or maybe a probiotic, and then magnesium
can be amazing. So magnesium is so amazing for so
many things in the body, especially with muscle tension. So
if there's a lot of pain that relates to that rigidity,
then magnesium can be really helpful for reducing all the
musclar tension as well as having fewer motor deficits. And
(05:31):
also this also can reduce dopamine urine loss as well,
so it can be really helpful supplement to put alongside.
But I think really to get good support for someone
with Parkinson's disease, it's about putting the different things together,
not just doing one thing. But you really need to
work in that complementary sort of using neurologists as well
(05:52):
as working with some lifestyle exercise, sleep, supplements, nutrition. You
kind of got to do a bit of all and
get it so you get the best possible lifestyle and
longevity as well as you can with that disease.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Thank you so much, Jaron. We'll catch up next week.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin. Listen
live to News Talks a B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News TALKSB I had time to talk. Well listen.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
I'm joined by naturopath Aaron O'Hara. Good morning, Good morning.
You got a really interesting subject for us today. We're
going to talk about Parkinson's and you just told me
a little something there about the difficulty there is for
people who've been diagnosed to see a neurologist in New Zealand.
And I mean I probably shouldn't be surprised. We know
that there are long waitlists to get in to see people,
(00:35):
but I was really taken back.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Yeah, it's actually a major problem here in New Zealand
and getting into most specialists, if you're going privately, usually
you can get in relatively quick. When it comes to neurologists,
they are so overloaded with neurological diseases and actually shortage
as well in New Zealand that the wait time can
be anything from sort of nine to twelve months, which
(00:57):
is absolutely huge. If you have a neurological condition, especially
something like Parkinson's disease developing, and you really need to
see a neurologists, you can really get that support.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
From nineteen ninety to twenty fifteen, the number of people
with parkinson disease doubled to over six million, and that
number is predicted to double again by twenty forty.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Huge, huge numbers, and it's a massive problem, and it's
really really growing very very rapidly. You know, they really
don't know. It remains largely unknown of why these rates
are rising. However, there's things like you know, aging, population increasing,
in longevity declining, sort of smoking rates. There's a whole
(01:41):
lot of industrial, sort of environmental factors that can influence it.
And all of those different things on our body have
a massive effect on how the neurological system works, and
you know, slowing it down. It's a tricky one because
quite often a lot of people have already progressed so
far into the disease before they actually get a diagnosis,
(02:03):
and then it's about either holding it steady or getting
it maybe a little bit reverse, but you can't actually
get it into full remission quite often. What is Parkinson's So,
Parkinson's disease is a neurological disease where predominantly the dopamine
producing neurons in the brain get affected and they either
get impaired or lost, and so that effect has a
(02:25):
huge effect on things like movement disorders to things like
you'll get symptoms like tremors, also slowness and movement rigidity,
and the muscles are real stiffness in the body which
creates actually a lot of pain as well. Changes in
movement and gait as well as some non motor symptoms
are things like depression anxiety. Because obviously dopamine has a
(02:48):
massive effect in your mood, constipation, sleep disorders, as well
as changes in long term, it can also increase the
risk of things like dementia as well.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
There's a lot more symptoms than I thought, a.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Lot a lot of symptoms related to it.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
So does that also make it quite tricky then to
diagnose it does?
Speaker 3 (03:07):
But there's been some interesting new research that comes out
came out really recently around the changes in the gut
and it's a really really interesting study that was done
by Harvard University, and it looked at the gut symptoms
and the development of especially upper gut digestive symptoms are
things like good or reflux as well as things like
(03:28):
constipation and their link towards later on ending up with
Parkinson's disease. And that's not saying that anyone that has
those symptoms is going to end up with Parkinson's disease,
but it is definitely a link that those are sort
of starting symptoms for some people before it develops into
those more motor symptoms conditions like the tremors and the
(03:49):
rigidity that people usually relate to Parkinson's disease.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
With such a wide range of symptoms, then what kind
of treatment is there that can assist with someone like Parkinson's.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
So to really hold it steady, most people will need
medication and they will need to go and see neurologists
to get that. You can't just get it through GP. However,
there's lots of things they can do alongside with lifestyle
in particular, things like exercise is super super helpful for
helping with the rigidity and movement and balance as well
as there's interesting foundations like the Duncan Foundation who does
(04:23):
a lot of it's all funded, you can actually donate
to them, and they do amazing community work where they
give exercises for people to be doing at home, which
will help with a lot with reducing the symptoms from progressing.
Whether it's helping with the rigidity and balance and their
natural supplements things that I like to use. NACS innacetyl
(04:44):
system has some really good research around increasing dopamine transport
binding and it's something that I'll commonly use alongside the medications.
And there's a really good effect also digestive support. So
obviously there's some digestive symptoms from that rigidity, including in
the gut, so that might be constipation or a bit
of reflux. You can really sort of calm symptoms through
(05:07):
using some supplements or maybe a probiotic, and then magnesium
can be amazing. So magnesium is so amazing for so
many things in the body, especially with muscle tension. So
if there's a lot of pain that relates to that rigidity,
then magnesium can be really helpful for reducing all the
musclar tension as well as having fewer motor deficits. And
(05:31):
also this also can reduce dopamine urine loss as well,
so it can be really helpful supplement to put alongside.
But I think really to get good support for someone
with Parkinson's disease, it's about putting the different things together,
not just doing one thing. But you really need to
work in that complementary sort of using neurologists as well
(05:52):
as working with some lifestyle exercise, sleep, supplements, nutrition. You
kind of got to do a bit of all and
get it so you get the best possible lifestyle and
longevity as well as you can with that disease.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Thank you so much, Jaron. We'll catch up next week.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin. Listen
live to News Talks a B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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