Manfred J.Poggel
Parkinson’s disease –
How I was healed without chemicals.
This book is dedicated, with my thanks and love, to my wonderful wife, who carried me through this difficult time and still carries me today.
Own Publishing House
S. E. M.
Renate Poggel-Zündorf und Manfred J.Poggel
Author’s note:
I have compiled the information in this book he best of my knowledge and belief. I have used most of the treatments described myself and the reports on my experiences are based on this. Where I have not used a treatment which is described myself, I have made this clear. However, I cannot entirely rule out the possibility that I may have made one or two mistakes in the information which may become apparent over time.
The author and publisher accept no liability regarding the application of the treatments or medications described. The author does not provide any medical advice on treatments or medications; the statements in the book are the author’s personal opinions. The applications described
are not a replacement for medical treatment. The purpose of this book is exclusively to present various personal experiments which have been clearly successful. No promise of healing or recovery is made.
If you have a serious illness and/or long-term medical complaints you must consult a doctor or alternative practitioner. The author and publisher accept no liability for the accuracy of the statements made, their effects or interpretations from the text. Where registration details of trademarks or brand names are not explicitly specified, this does not necessarily mean that the name of the product is not protected. No liability for errors or omissions is accepted. The author and publisher do not intend to provide any form of medical or professional services.
Should the treatments I have discovered or my opinions on research into the causes of the disease appear sensible and useful to you, I would be grateful if you were to discuss them with your doctor or alternative practitioner and, if applicable, your health insurance provider.
Reproduction, photocopying or any use of this text, both full and partial, is only permitted with express permission from the author. All rights reserved exclusively by the author.
ISBN: 978-3-9819844-6-0
Manfed J.Poggel
Parkinson’s disease -
How I was healed without chemicals
Original title:
Morbus Parkinson -
Meine Heilung ohne Chemie
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Author: |
Manfred J.Poggel |
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Creation/Photo: |
Manfred J.Poggel |
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Translation: |
Louise Walker |
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Reworking: |
Renate Poggel-Zündorf |
© 2019 S.E.M.
Own Publishing House
Renate Poggel-Zündorf
Manfred J.Poggel
www.elementares-wissen.de
First edition February 2019
All rights distribution rights, including by radio, television or other form of communication, photographic or audio reproduction, and rights to partial reproduction reserved
‘He who is ill long enough becomes a doctor himself’
Parkinson’s – an incurable lifestyle disease?
Part I
Painful experiences – Amazing findings – Healing effects
My life so far
I should have noticed
2003 – Unable to work
2004 – No research into the cause
2005 – A marathon of reviews and endless new medications
2006 – The absolute low point
2007 – I can begin to heal without chemicals
2008 – Accepting and overcoming setbacks
2009 – Powers of self-healing through natural therapies
2010 – The right decision – recovery is noticeable
Part II
New perspectives on causes and therapies
Possible causes of Parkinson’s disease
Possible therapies for Parkinson’s disease
The therapy mosaic
Part III
Health as a foundation
The first steps
Work sheet 1 Self-observation
Work sheet 2 Your own findings
Work sheet 3 Initial detoxification programme
Work sheet 4 What really helps us
Tips for an active and healthy life
Afterword
My self-help organisation: Selbsthilfeorganisation elementares Wissen e.V
I would like to say thank you
Appendix
Information and addresses
Footnotes and comments
References
The author
… says a Chinese proverb. Left to conventional medicine, which does not investigate causes but merely treats symptoms, patients suffering from illnesses such as Parkinson’s disease will remain ‘incurable’.
It is time for this way of thinking to change.
What causes Parkinson’s disease?
Ask your doctor! Be persistent. Do not let yourself be fobbed off. Be sceptical and question the answers you are given. Get at least one second opinion. I, in any case, have sometimes heard some rather adventurous explanations which I will describe here.
You are always told, ‘You must take your tablets at the right time. After all, you have a chronic illness. You have Parkinson’s disease; it’s incurable. We’ll do everything we can for you to slow down the disease for a few more years. You must bear in mind that you’ll be in a wheelchair in five years.’ After hearing these statements, it is no wonder that I was afraid.
The doctors who had treated me years before I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease were truly sympathetic and compassionate. Yet I also felt a real sense of their helplessness as they could not cure this disease. They clearly simply did not know of any alternatives to their chemical preparations.
So it was that I found myself subjected to a marathon of expert assessments that went on for years. It reached its peak when a judge tried to have me sent to a clinic for psychiatric and pharmacological treatment. However, luckily for me, a chance suggestion from a physiotherapist awoke a determination in me to finally decline the pharmaceutical industry’s chemical medications.
Nevertheless, it was clear to me that I would not be able to go down this path alone. Furthermore, I had no medical training. Simply understanding the vocabulary was a challenge for me at first. In my desperation, I asked the man upstairs for his help.
And it was granted.
I then began investigating the cause of my Parkinson’s disease. And I found it. After I had discovered the cause, I obtained a wide range of information from naturopathic doctors and alternative practitioners which I have detailed here – treatments that I have tested myself with success.
Over the years, all of the information about treatments for and the possible causes of Parkinson’s disease brought me to the knowledge which led me to write this book. Consequently, I present to you here the knowledge from my own new life without toxins. Meditation and spiritual guidance helped me, with time, to develop an understanding and knowledge in order to deal with my illness better and in a more relaxed way – and eventually also led me to recovery.
The first small successes already made me speechless and thankful. Of course, there were setbacks too, but the bad days became fewer and more far between as the years passed.
Today I can describe myself as cured. I have not been inside a doctor’s surgery for three years. Not only that but my new basic lifestyle, the change in diet, the regular detoxification of heavy metals, fungi and viruses, and the other changes I have made have not only cured me of Parkinson’s but have also made the rheumatic illnesses I have had since childhood, such as chronic polyarthritis, fibromyalgia and the beginnings of arthrosis in my knees, as well as headaches and the ulcer on the lower part of my left leg, disappear completely. Therefore, with this book, I would like to give you the courage to view your ‘fate’ from the perspective of the possibilities of recovery. Above all, however, I would like to encourage you not to be afraid any longer. I discovered the real causes of my disease – by chance, through my own experience, and by talking to people with the same fate.
1. A person with a disease must be understood as a whole.
2. Illness is a lack of energy (vibrations).
3. There are no coincidences; we are controlled and guided.
4. Do not ask ‘why me?’ but ‘why this?’.
5. Open yourself up to the natural possibilities of medicine.
6. Spiritual and physical activities heal us.
7. Spiritual experiences want to be implemented and used.
8. A healthy diet heals.
9. Trust in the healing powers within us.
10. Expand your awareness through new points of view.
The dreaded diagnosis of an ‘incurable disease’ awoke a fighting spirit in me and led me down the path of putting the healing process into action by investigating the cause, with energy transfers, with the power of the mind, and with the possibilities of natural medicine without harmful side effects, and motivated me to see it through to the end. This is a path that can give others hope, of that I am certain!
Conventional medical practitioners like to refer to this as a spontaneous recovery. To this I say, ‘No one else has succeeded in curing themselves. Healing is a blessing which comes from God.’ And as every human being possesses these God-given powers of healing, what needs to be done is to activate them. This book will provide suggestions and help to all those who are affected by Parkinson’s disease and all therapists.
I wish you all the best and hope that you understand my thoughts and suggestions as they are intended. I do not want to teach you; I want to offer you help to help yourself. I invite you to use my experience of a healthy lifestyle without chemicals for yourself, so that one day you will be able to enjoy a healthy day once again!
Before I share with you my very personal life experiences and experiences with the disease, I would like to explain why I am doing so. My observations and encounters over many years have shown me that there are a wide range of parallels in Parkinson’s sufferers. These may be events which occurred before birth, such as the mother’s fears or a premature birth, but also the sufferer’s own experiences of serious cases of the flu or infections, cervical spine disorders, rheumatic diseases, viral diseases, depression, REM sleep behaviour disorders, ADD or ADHD, problems with the sense of smell, liver disease, all kinds of stress, unhealthy lifestyles, toxification and other factors. (In this context births by Caesarean section are also considered premature births if carried out more than three days before the due date.)
It is also interesting that Parkinson’s disease occurs in a large number of people who have been self-employed or have worked in management positions and therefore been exposed to high levels of stress. According to Professor Volker Fintelmann, there is often a mental block (see part II, 26, Anthroposophic therapy) to overcoming these kinds of stresses.
In 1998, a particular gene was discovered during research at the Institute of Tropical Diseases in Hamburg. It sits on the short arm of chromosome 2 and has since been regarded as a significant trigger of Parkinson’s disease in certain predisposed families. However, it is not this simple, as Parkinson’s is also diagnosed in people who do not have this gene.
As is common knowledge, put in simple terms, a reduction in the messenger substance dopamine in the brain is considered to be the cause of Parkinson’s disease. When Parkinson’s is diagnosed, the level of dopamine in the then markedly light substantia nigra in the brain has already decreased by 90 percent. If not enough dopamine is or can be produced, this naturally leads to a lack of dopamine. But why is this? Why does conventional medicine not seem to be really and truly interested in the causes of this disease?
In 1817, the English doctor and pharmacist James Parkinson (1755–1824) described the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, making reference to ancient descriptions made by the Roman doctor Galen (129–199 AD). We find records of these symptoms as far back as around 1500 BC in Ayurvedic scripts. Erasistratus, a doctor in ancient Greece, also documented similar disease characteristics back in the third century BC. In the twelfth century AD, Saint Hildegard of Bingen described the ‘shaking palsy’. It was not until the seventeenth century that Sylvius de la Boe made the distinction between the various forms of tremor.
James Parkinson believed that a cervical spine disorder was the cause of these symptoms. In 1884, the neurologist Professor Jean Martin Charcot was the first person to use the term ‘Parkinson’s disease’.
The changes in the black substance in the brain (the substantia nigra) were discovered by the doctor Konstantin N. Tretiakoff (1892–1958) in 1919. Since the 1940s, the area of the brain that is affected has been determined more exactly, and as of 1960 there has been a synthetic form of dopamine, known as L-dopa, which, due to the discoveries of Ehringer and Oleh Hornykiewicz, has opened up new methods of treating Parkinson’s disease. The dopamine replacement developed by Birkmayer and Barbeau represented the beginning of modern Parkinson’s medication. However, that is now 50 years ago and incidences of the disease have increased rapidly.
Other than dopamine replacements and antidepressants with severe side effects, I was not prescribed any other forms of modern medication. Clearly not much progress has been made in conventional medicine in the past few decades when it comes to Parkinson’s disease. Even the urgently necessary physiotherapy was only prescribed to me after I explicitly requested it. Other than that it was simply medication, medication, medication – with numerous side effects. This is why it is important to me to shake things up with this book. First and foremost, I want to present the very positive results that I was able to achieve with natural medicine and complementary medicine. It is also equally important to me to make you aware of topics such as environmental toxins, pharmaceutical toxins, heavy metal toxification, overacidity and much more.
Why is the number of cases of Parkinson’s disease increasing so rapidly in the Western world? Can we find any explanations in our lifestyle? Fifty years ago, Parkinson’s disease was more or less unheard of in Africa and Asia. For a long time, even countries such as Denmark and Sweden did not experience the disease on the same scale as Germany and the USA.
In Germany, the number of cases of Parkinson’s disease is currently increasing by around 17,000 cases per year. In total the number of known and estimated undiagnosed cases in Germany is believed to be around 300,000. At the same time, the age of suffers is constantly decreasing. The youngest known sufferers are just 12 and 13 years old. Is this due to toxins in our environment, food and medication? According to today’s knowledge of the disease as described in conventional medicine, Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative neurological disease. No truly curative treatments for Parkinson’s have been made public at this point in time. Why not? Because a truly curative treatment has not been scientifically proven?
My dear practitioners of conventional medicine, patients do not care whether a cure has been scientifically proven or not. They simply want to be healthy again. I was given some pills out of the doctor’s cabinet (without an information leaflet) and told, ‘They’re so new that even your pharmacist won’t have heard of them.’ Today I know that the effectiveness of these tablets was not scientifically proven and tested either, but instead, without realising, I had taken part in some of the pharmaceutical industry’s studies.
This is why I appeal to all sufferers and their families: fight back! Do not let yourselves be patronised! Learn to make distinctions! It is vital for us all and for you especially.
My life so far
1945
I was born prematurely at seven months under the horrors of the French-Moroccan occupation in a small village in Allgäu, Germany. My mother had been evacuated there from the heavily bombed Ruhr area. My father was in a Russian prisoner of war camp. My premature birth was triggered by my mother being persecuted and raped by Moroccan soldiers.
At birth I weighed 1840g. I was not expected to survive. An emergency baptism was performed and I was laid aside. But, at my mother’s insistence, I was brought to her; she was told that I did not have long to live anyway. Obviously my will to live was already very strong! Because things turned out differently.
1947
We moved to the Ruhr area. Nutrition was bad in general, and better described as makeshift.There was a lack of everything. Diseases.
The next kindergarten was only 100 metres from where I lived. I did not even need to cross the street. Yet after a few weeks I absolutely did not want to go any more. My mother was worried and tried to find out why this was the case. It turned out that in this kindergarten, which was run by nuns, I was simply locked away sometimes – probably for being disobedient – in a pitch-black cellar which had the light-blocking doors that were still common at the time and were also airtight. I can still hear the sound of the two heavy locks turning.
1952
Early diseases (rheumatism) due to lacking and insufficient nutrition, environmental toxins, lead pipes in the water supply, extreme pollution, etc. I was in hospital for months at a time due to rheumatic problems. I spent years on medication during my childhood and my time at school. At that time, as is the case today, the side effects of medication were not considered. Advice from doctors was trusted completely. Despite this, I had loving parents who remained together and I felt comfortable and accepted. I was always a quiet child, often withdrawn and absorbed in my own imagination. A teacher once said to my parents, ‘Oh, I see your son sitting there and how he’s in a world of his own. I just leave him be. I think he still knows what I’ve said.’ Those were the people educating children back then! Nowadays we know that children who are as quiet as I was could be suffering from ADD (attention deficit disorder). Back then this term had not been invented yet. Today children who disrupt lessons due to overly cheeky, hyperactive behaviour stand out. This is called ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). However, today we also know that ADD or ADHD can be precursors to Parkinson’s disease.
1953
The first signs of severe overacidity were ignored by doctors. Only a conscientious dentist explained to my mother where the black coating on my front teeth came from – from acids in the saliva. This symptom still occurs in many children with ADHD today. Later in life this coating is attributed to natural causes such as tea, red wine or tobacco. It is no longer common to hear of ‘overacidity’ in conventional medicine.
1961
A severe bout of rheumatism meant four months in hospital with a course of injections and strong medication.Afterwards I was prescribed a two-year course of Resochin tablets as prophylaxis. I was also proscribed other medications with very strong side effects.
1964–1968
I completed my studies, received my degree and got married. I became self-employed straight away, setting up an office with my wife.
1971–2003
I held teaching positions as a lecturer at the University Applied Sciences (HSD).
1972–2004
My wife and I had our own company and developed patents.From the 1980s onwards, I was constantly having treatment for rheumatism and taking medication.
1973 and 1975
My two wonderful, strong-minded sons were born.
I should have noticed
1995
I had strong, unexplained pain in both legs, back problems, outbreaks of sweat and dizziness. I experienced excessive, compulsive yawning whenever I went outside, for example during a walk in the woods. I asked a lot of doctors about it but they had no answers. These yawning attacks continued until 2008. I had headaches, dizziness and a constant feeling that everything was swaying, problems in the cervical spine, pelvic obliquity, a slipped disk and other problems. … and always this pain.
1998
Due to a three-week-long viral infection I was temporarily unable to eat. I got through this period on baby food. This unexplained infection came back after almost exactly three months, then again after six months, and again the following year, but only for a few days.
1999
I had a slipped disk in the lumbar spine. Over the following years I had repeated medical spa therapy and took medication with side effects – i.e. toxins. At one of the spa therapy centres there was no physiotherapist due to changes in staff. The doctor asked if I would also consider being treated by a Feldenkrais specialist. This was a fantastic ‘coincidence’. It enabled me to learn a great deal about this unique kind of movement therapy. The young Feldenkreis teacher developed a special detoxification programme for me that I could do at home (see part III, Work sheets). I was also introduced to singing bowl therapy for the first time.
At the end of my stay she also gave me the address of another Feldenkreis teacher in my home town. This enabled me to carry out the exercises once a week for many years under the supervision of a very attentive, professional and helpful teacher, until I had to move to a different town in 2005. This was a real shame, as I think further treatment would have been highly beneficial.
2000
I suffered from dizziness, circulation problems, headaches and increased hoarseness during presentations and lectures. The first signs of memory loss appeared and I had problems concentrating. I was no longer fit for daily life.
Medication, medication, medication!
I was often unable to remember the names of friends and acquaintances when they were standing in front of me.
Now I know that the so-called transient ischemic attacks (small strokes) that I had at night are malfunctions in the brain which are signs of dementia. What a shame that none of the doctors could explain this or treat me for it directly. Such information was recorded meticulously in my medical notes, but nothing was done about it. This constant tiredness and listlessness, this feeling of being out of step, was very depressing.
The sensation of hearing myself speak as though it was someone else who was speaking was highly unsettling.
At that time, after meetings and presentations I would say to my wife, ‘During these discussions I feel like a politician who wants to answer a question but usually never gets to the point and tells a different story instead.’ In politicians this is sometimes called diplomacy. In me it was disease.
This time was a great burden for me. Sometimes I could not even remember the names of people I had known and worked with for years. I could not remember them at all. I now know that this was a manifestation of a severe liver disease. In alternative medicine this is considered a trigger or a cause of Parkinson’s disease.
2003 – Unable to work
From 2003 onwards, I was unable to work and had symptoms that indicated Parkinson’s disease which were first noticed by an orthopaedist. General practitioners and neurologists did not want to recognise the real problem, Parkinson’s disease. A doctor of alternative medicine began a course of deacidification, heavy metal detoxification and oxygen therapy on me.
My GP dismissed these treatments as ‘esoteric rubbish’, a fatal error as I discovered later. I would have done better not to listen to him.
In July, I had a serious car accident due to lacking brain function. It became harder and harder to walk. As a consequence I had falls, I had ringing in my ears and I could not follow conversations. Reading required a lot of effort, as after a few lines I no longer understood what I had read.
I would have liked to have had Aslan therapy, a holistic therapy aimed at prevention and regeneration. My GP strongly advised me not to have it.
2004 - No research into the cause
Rehabilitation
This was followed by a stay in a rehabilitation clinic.By then it was already obvious that I had the typical gait of someone with Parkinson’s disease, but not for the doctor in charge. I was prescribed more medication – along with all the side effects.For all of the doctors who treated me then and over the coming years, my complaints around my left temple and left cheek bone were rather strange. I was told again and again that it was probably an inflammation of the trigeminal nerve. In any case, according to ‘expert’ opinion, neither of these complaints had anything to do with my Parkinson’s disease. The same was said of the headaches at the top left of the back of my head and the bottom left of the edge of my skull. Regarding the back of my head, they simply said, ‘… you probably bumped your head there once.’ It was not until four years later, during which time I experienced constant severe complaints, that this incorrect diagnosis was cleared up by a Vietnamese healer (see part I, Meridian seminar).
At the rehabilitation clinic I discovered that I could not longer walk straight line. In this context, I remembered that over the past few years my wife had pointed out how I tendet to go the right when I was walking. The doctor in charge of the rehabilitation clinic thought that this was due to a purely psychological reason. In her experience, she assured me multiple times, it had absolutely nothing to do with Parkinson’s disease. The doctor was clearly overwhelmed by her position as head of the clinic. I would like to illustrate this with the following unforgettable.
As I had once again had severe back pain during my time at the rehabilitation clinic, I asked her for acupuncture after reading about it in the clinic’s brochure. I did not want to keep taking the pain killers with their strong side effects. I wanted to be free from the pain without any more poisoning. I trusted that I was finally about to begin a treatment that would actually help.
The orthopaedist who had been treating me for years needed around 12 acupuncture needles which were put into my back for what felt like one minute.
The doctor at this clinic, on the other hand, needed what felt like one minute per needle and some of them were used several times in a very painful manner. In the shoulder area she placed the needle so ineptly that I screamed from the pain. She simply said that she had probably hit a trigger point. I was supposed to sit on the side of the treatment bed with the needles in my back for 20 minutes. Whenever I had had this treatment before I had always lain on my stomach. After five minutes I felt so sick that I was swaying. I was worried that I would lose consciousness. I was scared that I would then fall back onto the needles. With my last bit of strength I saw an emergency button in the treatment room and almost fell against it rather than lose consciousness. My last thought was, ‘You have to fall forwards.’ After a while the clinic staff came and took out the needles and laid me on the treatment bed. As I threatened to collapse, the head of the clinic, the person who had caused my misery, was called. Her only comment was, ‘Well then, I can’t give you any more acupuncture. You’re clearly not suitable for this treatment.’ To this day I have not received an apology for her lack of compassion and her weak acupuncture skills. Nevertheless, this experience did not have a long-term effect on my belief in the possibility of using acupuncture without any side effects. Acupuncture sessions carried out with skill by professional doctors and therapists have strengthened this belief.
Deutsche Klinik für Diagnostik (DKD) German Clinic for Diagnosis
On my own initiative and at the recommendation of my orthopaedist who really did everything she could to help me, I made an appointment with the Deutsche Klinik für Diagnostik (DKD – German Clinic for Diagnosis) in Wiesbaden. I underwent a full examination there in the summer of 2004. The results: I did indeed have Parkinson’s disease. I was given more medication, but different and new kinds. It is worth mentioning an event with the psychologist at the DKD who gave me a form explaining how I could create a better future for myself through certain behaviour.
What shocked me in particular about this form was that, I quote, ‘a small bad deed every day’ was expected of me, in order to bring me out of my psychological low. I did not know what was meant by this. I showed this form to my doctors later who also reacted by shaking their heads in disbelief. At that time I could do nothing with the advice from this psychologist because I could no longer make decisions. My fear and apathy increased every day. I just wanted to be left in peace.
2005 – A marathon of reviews and endless new medications
Psychotherapy
My statutory health insurance provider recommended that I also take out additional private health insurance. I was happy to do so. However, I insisted that the additional packages also cover homeopathic methods and similar.
After the private and statutory providers had spoken to one another, my application was judged pointless as I was already being treated with a whole range of psychotropic drugs and it was therefore not possible for me to take out private health insurance coverage. As the period of time for which I had been judged unfit for work was at an end, I no longer received any sick pay. I subsequently spent a period of time struggling to have a disability pension extended. I was left with costs for many, many reviews. Costs for lawyers. Costs for courts. A total of 19 reviews and medical certificates that all confirmed that I was unable to work due to my Parkinson’s disease were required. I needed a great deal of help during this time. I was at my wit’s end.
I began psychotherapy with an unusually open-minded professor. Finally there was someone who took my complaints and struggles seriously. To this day I am thankful for these discussions, which provided explanations and showed understanding. I was told that I was entitled to physiotherapy. First I had to tell this to the neurologist and request the treatment. I was then ‘graciously’ given two sessions a week, although not until autumn.
I kept bumping my head on things – strange. Everyone said that they could not understand me as my pronunciation was becoming increasingly unclear.
I kept experiencing these lows. I could only read the newspaper for ten minutes, and after just five minutes I no longer understood what I had read. I also had unbearable headaches that never fully went away; I had ringing in my ears and my hands shook. Muscle cramps in my whole body meant that I could only walk a few steps. Really it was just a slow shuffle. We thought about getting a wheelchair and a stair lift. I simply could not go on. I, a person who had made my own decisions all my life, who had often worked 20-hour days, 7 days a week, was now a wreck.
I discovered that my eyes started burning more and more often and the tears were aggressive. I was at a loss. The doctors I asked, specialists from various fields, did not have an explanation either.
At night during the sleep brought on by medication my legs were active, kicking and shaking. My handwriting became worse and worse. I was reluctant to write anything when I was being watched. I could barely read what I had scribbled myself anymore. My wife had to help me dress and undress. Shirt buttons, socks and shoes in particular proved to be unmanageable hurdles.
2006 – The absolute low point
Reviews
My application for a disability pension had to be justified in court.
The court decided on a specialist clinic for a final review – after the 17 reviews that had already been presented. The head of this clinic and his team of senior staff who carried out the PET scan with injections of radioactive contrast materials answered my question as to the development and cause of the disease almost identically:
‘Well, you known Muhammad Ali, the boxer, he has Parkinson’s too. He probably got one too many knocks to the head.’ I replied, ‘And what about the pope?’ (John Paul II who was pope at the time and suffering from Parkinson’s disease). ‘That’s probably a genetic cause.’
As I had done some research myself I simply could not believe the way that patients were being treated as though they were stupid. Unfortunately, I was no longer able to express this as I was unable to form a coherent sentence due to my agitation. My wife had to support me. Later I often heard a similar explanation: ‘It has psychosomatic causes.’ These are the standard phrases when doctors cannot or do not want to give an answer. This is often followed by ‘You have to live with it now’. How can they treat people like this? To say they take people for idiots is putting it politely.
All of this might give the impression that I do not appreciate the doctors’ efforts. This is not the case, and thankfully I have seen many times that there are some fantastic, selfless and helpful doctors and medical experts – often people in the emergency department, surgeons, orthopaedists and specialists in many other areas of medicine. However, I have also often felt that for some doctors I was simply a member of a health insurance plan or someone with bothersome requests. I was kept quiet with some kind of medication for the next 14 days, along with severe side effects, without compassion. If it did not work I would be prescribed a different medication with a different active ingredient. Throughout this process I was never asked about any liver or kidney problems or other diseases. They were probably not interested. The main thing was that plenty of medication was prescribed. However, I have to say that the doctors often simply did not have any knowledge of the side effects of the chemical medications. As medical degrees in Germany do not focus enough on the causes of a disease, I think that they are simply unable to develop any knowledge of this. I have the impression that nowadays treating symptoms comes down to, in a nutshell: ask your pharmaceutical representative.
Court procedures
I tried to calm myself down, which was very difficult considering the court date which had been set. There were now 18 reviews and medical certificates that confirmed that I was unable to work due to my Parkinson’s disease and ruled out the possibility of an improvement. Review number 19 also confirmed this, but included a note saying that a completely different psychotropic drug might make me fit for work again in a few years. The last review was carried out by the pension insurance provider. The doctor responsible, the head of a psychiatric clinic, had never examined me, never seen me and never spoken to me. He had judged my long-term illness ‘on the basis of the files’, as it is put so cruelly.
The court was made up of one judge and four assessors. I was at my wit’s end when the judge, probably irritated and annoyed by my tremor, said, ‘Don’t make such a fuss, nowadays they just put a chip in your head and then you’ll be able to work again.’ I had a nervous breakdown. My lawyer and my wife had to take me out of the court room. When you consider that this court hearing was also about back payments from the disability pension amounting to several tens of thousands of euros – from the time the disease was recognised, so from 2004 onwards – the judge’s brisk manner becomes more understandable. The representative from the pension insurance provider was more than happy with the judge. I was no longer in a position to follow the proceedings. My lawyer was only able to get a settlement. Statutory pension insurance providers and providers of disability pension insurance in Germany are obligated to pay a disability pension from the moment when someone covered by the insurance is classified as unfit to work. In my case, this would have been after the examination by the DKD in 2004.
When is someone unfit to work in Germany? When a court has confirmed it. This can take years, as in my case, and can be delayed again and again by the pension insurance provider, until the person becomes so poor that they are willing to accept the solution presented to them.
Until then, you have no social security, i.e. no money, but are still obliged to make full payments to your health insurance and pension insurance providers – something I consider a huge scam.
Back at the beginning of 2005, the pension insurance provider had indicated to my lawyer that they would recognise my Parkinson’s disease on the basis of the available reviews, if I was prepared to receive my old-age pension early, rather than a disability pension. For me this would have meant a life-long reduction of around 19 percent. As I did not agree to this since the overall loss, even if I reached the average age of life expectancy, would be too high, the pension insurance provider wanted to practically bleed me dry. On the basis of the files, the nineteenth reviewer from the pension insurance provider judged my Parkinson’s disease as non-existent. However, on the basis of the same files, which had been going back and forth for years, he was of the opinion that I probably did have Parkinson’s disease but could be treated with a long-term stay in a psychiatric clinic.
So the pension insurance provider and the judge agreed that my entitlement would be recognised from 2004 onwards if I let myself be locked away in a psychiatric clinic.
I suspect that this was simply a way of scaring me. However, as I found this unacceptable, my lawyer was forced to agree to a settlement. My inability to work was recognised but not retrospectively. This saved the pension insurance provider a lot of money. I, however, was now in a very weak financial position and had to pay half of the court fees with the settlement money. If I had not experienced it myself, I would not have believed the ignorance, incompetence and inhumanity with which I was treated by the court. I accepted the settlement out of necessity.
From then on I understood: it was about my future, the future of myself and my wife; it was about activating the will to recover, to learn, to seek and find advice and information. My findings are that diseases are not from God, as many religious communities are still taught from the pulpit. No, diseases are caused by people and their lifestyles – to some extent even before birth. I was afraid because the end, the true end, of Parkinson’s disease is not being in a wheelchair, no, it is death through suffocation when the muscles can no longer carry out the brain’s commands. This should motivate all sufferers to become healthy again or at least to lead a natural life which is worth living for longer.
Prayer
In my distress and despair I found a quiet environment and prayed what came into my head:
God, our father, make me healthy again.
I know that would be a miracle now.
But that is not what I mean.
Show me a path I can take.
Guide me to see things, to get information, so I can help myself through your goodness.
Give me knowledge, understanding and the will to help all people, animals and plants.
Openness and tolerance, love and compassion should fill me.
And it was so!
Over the following years I experienced truly miraculous things which I have written down here.
The book Heilen verboten – Töten erlaubt (healing forbidden – death allowed) by Kurt G. Blüchel made clear to me for the first time the relationship between practitioners of conventional medicine and courts in Germany. Now I understood what the term ‘sozial verträgliches Frühableben’[1] (socially viable early death) used by the former president of the German Medical Association meant in practice for the individual.
This made me even more determined to seek solutions. After all, we are not alone. And there are no coincidences. We are guided. This is why the following also apply here:
FAITH, HOPE, LOVE
Think positively and do not forget to give thanks. My new life had consequences. Tobacco and alcohol were banned. As a layman when it came to medicine, I had to reorganise the world for myself. But how can you do this when you no longer understand anything and tiredness and pain define the day? Based on intuition I began with the information included with my medication which, trusting my doctors, I had not read until then. I was amazed at all the things listed under the heading ‘side effects’.
Medication and side effects
All of the following terms are taken from the information sheets included with the medications (originally in German).
Side effects of Mareen
Frequent: dry mouth, dry e, tiredness, drowsiness, sweating, dizziness, drop in blood pressure, circulation problems, shaking, vision impairment, constipation, weight loss, increase in liver enzyme levels. Occasionally may cause problems urinating, restlessness, allergic skin reactions, sexual dysfunctions, confusion.
In rare cases may cause collapse, urinary retention, breast secretion, stimulation problems in the heart, accumulation of liquid in tissues, ringing in the ears, excessive dreaming, disruptions in hormone secretion in the pituitary gland, hair loss, changes in the blood glucose level, drug-induced hepatitis.
In isolated cases may cause seizures starting in the brain, increased pressure in the eye, complete enteroparesis and nerve dysfunction. Changes in blood count, sleep problems, problems swallowing, salivation, hand tremors, movement problems, fever, chills; inflammation in the nose, pharynx, mouth, genital and anal areas with itching may be a sign of a strong decrease in the number of white blood cells.
Please note: In patients with an organic brain syndrome the possibility that Mareen may be a trigger of confusion is to be questioned.
Side effects of Stalevo Gastrointestinal bleeding, involuntary movement, nausea, irregular heartbeat and arrhythmia, dizziness, fainting, drowsiness, low blood pressure, sleepiness, sudden worsening of Parkinson’s symptoms, loss of appetite, vomiting, development of a duodenal ulcer, stomach pains, dry mouth, constipation, diarrhoea, high blood pressure, inflammation of leg veins, insomnia, hallucinations, confusion, unpleasant dreams, tiredness, muscle cramps, excessive sweating, changes to blood cells and their components, fainting, infections, bleeding, shortness of breath, stomach pains, tingling and numbness, seizures. Rare or very rare side effects: arousal, itching and rash, weight loss or weight gain, impaired vision, sexual dysfunction, among others. I also read that particular care should be taken when taking the medication
• if you have ever had a heart attack, asthma, vascular disease or lung disease
• if you have or have had liver problems
• if you have ever had a kidney disease
• if you have ever had an adrenal gland tumour
• if you have ever felt depressed or had suicidal thoughts
• if you have ever had open-angle or narrow-angle glaucoma
• if you have ever had a mental illness
• if you are taking medication to lower blood pressure
• if you experience involuntary movements during treatment
• if you discover you experience severe muscle stiffness, strong twitching, shaking, arousal, confusion, fever or fluctuations in blood pressure
Side effects of clomipramine
Mental health: mental anguish, increased appetite, occasional confusion, disorientation, hallucinations, anxiety, hypomania, personality disorders, aggression, memory and concentration problems, worsening depression and nightmares, activation of psychotic symptoms, among others.
Central nervous system: hand tremors, dizziness, headaches, muscle cramps, speech disorders, neuralgia and others.
Autonomic nervous system: dry mouth, sweating, blurred vision, urinary retention, among others.
Cardiovascular system: low blood pressure, high pulse, ECG changes, cardiac irregularity, among others.
Gastrointestinal tract: constipation, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, impaired sense of taste, thirst, rare ileus, among others.
Liver and bile duct: increased amount of liver enzymes, rare liver disorders, jaundice in rare cases, among others.
Skin and skin appendages: itching, photosensitivity, oedema and hair loss in rare cases. Hormone system: sexual dysfunction, breast secretion in women, enlargement of mammary glands in men, menstrual disorders, among others. Allergic reactions: pneumonia due to allergic reactions in rare cases, among others.
Blood formation: decrease in number of red blood cells, among others. Sensory organs: occasional impaired sense of taste and ringing in the ears. Other side effects: In the case of clomipramine infusions, isolated skin reactions may occur at the puncture sites. If the medication is discontinued without reducing it gradually, this may result in nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, stomach pains, insomnia, headaches, anxiety and other side effects.
Notes for particular patient groups: Tricyclic antidepressants can reduce the seizure threshold meaning that seizures may occur in patients at increased risk of seizures due to epilepsy, brain damage, alcoholism, alcohol withdrawal, or concurrent use of antipsychotics.
… and so it went on.
Side effects of Zolpinox
Zolpinox has the same or similar side effect as the other medications listed, perhaps with a small difference – here there are many indications of memory problems, memory loss, depression, changes in behaviour, and physical and psychological dependence at various dosages.
This list could be extended almost endlessly and, in my opinion, shows only one thing: the flaws in the supposed blessing that is medication, not only with regard to the side effects in the affected organs but above all with regard to previous illnesses. The doctors who treated me never asked me about these, yet it is clear from these lists that these interactions can be incredibly important. Why did the doctors not ask?
Other medications I took included:
- Levodopa-neuraxpharm 100/25
- Comtess 200mg
- Lorazepam dura 1mg
- Zopiclone-neuraxpharm 3.75
- Doxepin-neuraxpharm 50
- Fluoxetine beta 40
- Fluoxetine-neuraxpharm 20T
- Fluneurin 40mg
- and many more
Unfortunately I did not understand everything it said on these information sheets, but what I did understand shocked and disturbed me deeply.
What does the word ‘medication’ actually mean? The German word for medication, Medikament, has the following roots:
medica = to heal
ment = mind
How far we have gone away from this! Who led us down this wrong path? In principle, it is this simple, as the mind heals us, the power of our thoughts, without chemicals, without side effects that cause sickness. But I did not understand this until years later.
Psyche
There are certain kinds of nights that one does not want to experience. I remember a particular dream and experience. I am lying on a hospital bed and see only the tiles on the wall or floor. I am ice cold. I cannot move. It is as if I am frozen. I cannot call for help. I cannot do anything. I am petrified and I think ‘NO! Not now!’ Then, very slowly, my body warms up from my head down to my feet as if it is being passed through a scanner. It feels like this process takes over 10 minutes.
Breuss treatment[2]
I now realised that I had to find a medication for myself. A friend, over 80 years old, who we had not seen in a very long time came to visit and seemed active and fresh, as if he were years younger. He told us about the Breuss treatment that he had done.
Rudolf Breuss was an Austrian practitioner of alternative medicine. Back in the 1950s, on the basis of natural observations and tests which he performed on himself, he was able to help and heal many people, in particular those with cancer but also people with many other diseases. As my parents had died very young of cancer, my thoughts turned to this as well as my illnesses.
I sought out detailed information about Rudolf Breuss and his treatment, went to Nüziders in Austria and bought his book along with the vegetable juices and herbal teas that he had developed. My wife wanted to do the treatment with me, as it never hurts.
Mastering this extreme way of living together was a great support for me. We carried out the treatment ourselves without supervision from a doctor. I had mentioned the subject to one of my doctors once. But he dismissed it. To not eat anything for 42 days – that seemed impossible to him. Over the next 42 days there was nothing to eat. It sounds a lot worse than it actually was.
During the first three to four days it actually felt as if we were on a small diet. However, over the following days we began to feel better and better. During this time I lost a total of 25 kilogrammes. As I had become severely overweight due to the medication this was a positive result, but the most important part was the knowledge that I had purged all of the things that cause illness from my body.