Placebo or the Real deal

I have been baffled, because not every one in the study has the same restrictions on eating.

Where as I am not to eat for three hours prior to a dosing or half an hour after I take the pill, another test subject is required to go eleven hours without food and only eats twice a day.

Although we arrived for the study on the same day, they told him he had to wait an extra day to begin his dosing, because his medication hadn’t arrived from Belgium until then. (Weird)

{ I just noticed the rule: i before e, except after c doesn’t apply to the word weird…} (Weird)

Anyway, the study partner with the med from Europe (I’ll call him ‘E’) has been experiencing phenomenal improvements i.e. reductions in his symptoms.

• When ‘E’ arrived, he used a cane, due to instability. soon he no longer felt a need for a cane, but he was still shuffling his feet. This morning, as I watched ‘E’walk down the hallway back to his room, ‘E’ was picking up his feet… an obvious confident walk with no shoe sliding!
• It was ‘E’ who pointed out to me, that he could now snap his fingers. (When I tried snapping my fingers today, I could with one hand, barely.. but not the other… typical ups & downs of PD)
• ‘E’ reports he his speech & articulation are much improved.
• ‘E’ reports only a slight tremor in one hand remains.
• ‘E’ was excited this morning, to report he hadn’t drooled for the last two nights, as noted by the fact the sleeve of his sleeping attire had remained dry

As I visited with ‘E’ this morning, as we discussed the differences in our protocol, he suggested how I might determine if I was receiving the placebo. He said he didn’t swallow the capsule (cheeked it) then he allowed the capsule to dissolve in his mouth. Once was enough. His expectation was that if it was a sugar pill, it would be sweet. ‘E’ said what hit his taste buds was not sweet. Cautioning me to have water close, to wash the pill on down after it dissolved because what he had tasted horrible!

Naturally, I had to try it for myself. First off, it was not sweet… but it was nearly flavorless, but it did have a slight aftertaste. So… am I getting the placebo? or does ‘E’ have more keen taste? Do I have the test med, at a much lower dose? I’ll probably never know.

But what I do know, is there is something coming down the research pipeline that I hope will be available to turn back the symptoms… hopefully in the not too distant future.

Author: suerosier

In May of 2018, I was diagnosed with Parkinson's. After researching, I believe the symptoms began to manifest themselves years prior to last year. The purpose for my blog is to share what I have learned (with an index) to save others time as they seek for answers about, symptoms, therapies [and alternative things to try], tools I use, Parkinsonisms, recipes, strategies, clinical studies, words of encouragement or just enjoy the photos or humor. View all posts by suerosier