Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's Disease (Part 2)

On Suggested Treatments, Cures & Preventative Action, including notes on healing Parkinson's

continued from Part 1: Alzheimer's Disease Suggested Causes

Alzheimer's frequently seems to be the eventual product of toxic inner and outer environment and deficient and toxic nutrition & tap water, to wit the purported link of Alzheimer's to heavy metals like mercury, toxic agents such as aluminium, aspartame, glutamate, cysteine (all three „excitotoxins“), sugar, lack of omega3 essential fatty acids, water etc.

A number of these and more proposed causative agents reportedly inducing the deterioration of the nervous system as seen in the physical pathology of the dementias are discussed in Part 1: Alzheimer's Disease Suggested Causes. If you haven’t perused this list of possible Alzheimer’s “culprits” yet, please do so first since they have a direct bearing on the treatments and approaches suggested on this second, follow-up page addressing suggested Alzheimer’s cures. In fact simply avoiding the mentioned factors should or could be of help.

The major success reports with Alzheimer’s disease I’ve seen so far seem to point to the central importance of chelating mercury deposits from the body and brain. Holistic physician Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt, for instance, centers his approach to healing Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS, MS, autism etc. around mercury chelation.

I am also impressed by Edgar Cayce’s holistic treatment suggestions (featured on this page together with a link to an Alzheimer's healing testimonial based on his approach).

Personally I think a combination or holistic approach would be optimal - applying Edgar Cayce’s advice while doing a thorough mercury etc. detoxification* plus optimizing one’s diet and lifestyle along similar lines such as those suggested by Dr. Budwig: her Budwig diet focuses on an abundant supply of easily assimilable omega 3 fatty acids, is rich in sulphurated amino acids (which act as a powerful internal detox squad) and live organic nutrition while shunning processed foodstuffs and damaging foods in general and avoiding detrimental lifestyle agents and toxic environmental influences to the extent possible.
* under the guidance of an experienced naturopath since the brain is involved

Healing Cancer Naturally’s pages on Alzheimer's Disease: Causes, Cures & Prevention are a work in progress and will be further expanded, please check back occasionally.

Suggested Alzheimer's natural treatments & prevention

Avoid possible causative agents

See Part 1: Alzheimer's Disease Suggested Causes

Detoxify and chelate heavy metals from the brain

For both health maintenance and healing, keeping (or getting) the internal body clean, i.e. free of stored toxins, seems generally essential, such as via juicing, fasting, colon, liver, kidney and parasite cleanses etc. See Detoxification.

In fact for Alzheimer’s patients, mercury (plus aluminium etc.) chelation and avoidance via optimised diet (perhaps incl. herbs and homeopathics) seem to be something crucial to look into. The aforementioned Dr. Klinghardt (see Part 1: Alzheimer's Disease Suggested Causes) has developed a natural chelation protocol based on cilantro, chlorella and wild garlic that can be self-applied, though with more serious cases (such as Alzheimer's and other illnesses involving the brain/nervous system), it is better/advised to do this under his supervision (which may include additional care such as DMPS injections etc.) or if available, a doctor trained by him. I’ve read and listened to some of Dr. Klinghardt’s lectures in German and was impressed with what seems to be extensive experience and a thorough holistic approach to healing. It is possible that Dr. Klinghardt no longer accepts clients but if he does, consider seeing him with a loved one affected by Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or other illness involving the nervous system.
For much detail on Dr. Klinghardt’s approach, see On Effective Holistic Heavy Metal Chelation (Removal): definitions, diagnosis, neurotoxins, heavy metal toxicity & symptoms, risk factors, detox methods & side effects, natural chelation agents, secondary infections, etc.

Remove dental amalgam fillings

If you have your amalgam fillings taken out (which I recommend), it is crucial to have this done under the care of a specialized dentist who follows a safety protocol which minimizes your renewed exposure to mercury. See The importance of safely removing (mercury) amalgam "silver" fillings.

Mercury-free dentists
A directory of mercury-free dentists can be found at www.iaomt.org//findmember.cfm?newsFlip=news. Among other precautionary and protection measures, the clinic must have a vacuum machine which sucks out mercury vapours from the patient's mouth during amalgam removal, all dental personnel must wear a gas mask etc. Apparently it will cost nearly US$1,000 to have 4 - 5 amalgam fillings removed and replaced by porcelain fillings, with insurance covering some of the costs. Also compare Beware of fake alternative and/or holistic dentists and Dangers of dental fillings.

Dental autonomy
If you want to go a step further, consider having the mercury “silver fillings” taken out but not having your teeth refilled with anything. Instead work at naturally strengthening your teeth to the point that a new enamel layer is formed allowing your teeth to be virtually normally used in spite of large remaining "cavities" in the molars. It can be done with determination and the right foods, see my own and others' in-depth experiences with dental autonomy, self-treatment and regeneration. Re going for artificial replacements (dentures, implants etc.) instead, I think what with all the chemical substances, glue, foreign metals etc. going with their use, that this “solution” is far from health-promoting for your body.

For more about mercury detox and the link between amalgams and Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's Disease (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or ALS) and other diseases, also read hugginsappliedhealing.com.

Eat fresh, raw, organic with plenty of omega3s,
for instance the Budwig diet

It is very important to use organic foods and drink clean water, the number or various toxic agents in conventional food (and tap water) is staggering. Also, nonorganic foodstuffs don't offer a balanced nutrient spectrum (trace elements, minerals etc.). See nutrition and Suggested Alzheimer's Causes: Lack of Omega3s (a diet high in the Omega-3 fatty acid DHA helps protect the brain against the memory loss and cell damage caused by Alzheimer's disease).

Coconut oil: an Alzheimer remedy?

According to a number of articles, coconut oil has benefits against Alzheimer's. (Organic virgin) coconut oil in any case is credited with numerous health and healing benefits and even makes a great all-natural cosmetic for hair and skin.

Drinking Juice

may stall Alzheimer's. See webmd.com/content/article/126/116527.htm

Blood electrification

„We have had Alzheimer's patients regain their memories when their brains were oxygenated using this technology.”

Ozone

From Ozone Home & Medical Uses (III):

„Medical Ozone has saved the lives of millions of people suffering from cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer's, herpes, hepatitis, and more. ... This treatment has also been found to successfully treat hepatitis and even Alzheimers, in which ozonating the blood has been shown to precipitate the aluminum buildup, which is thought to be a factor in the disease. German doctors have had similar success with Parkinson's, Multiple Sclerosis, and other nervous system diseases.”

From Treating & Healing Cancer With Oxygen, Ozone & Hydrogen Peroxide (1) (Interesting medical ozone facts):

„Ozone with EDTA has produced excellent results in cerebrovascular insufficiency, fibromuscular dysplasia, lupus erythmatosus, polyateritis, nodosa, granulomatous angiitis, Takayasu panarteritis, meningovascular syphilis, intracranial arterial occlusions, Alzheimer's disease and senile dementia, and cerebral atrophy. ... Ozone is an effective treatment for multiple sclerosis, optic neuritis, encephalomyelitis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, tardive dyskinesia, dystonia, supranuclear palsy, striatonigral degeneration, Tourette syndrome and Huntington's chorea.”

Hydration

From Chronic Unintentional Dehydration Causes Pain and Disease, Including Cancer:

”Prevent Alzheimer's disease. Regain your memory, even in old age. THINK! The brain is 85 percent water. When water in the brain becomes insufficient, the brain shrinks. The plum-like cells become prune-like. Only in their natural fully hydrated state are brain cells able to connect and ‘talk’ to one another, and we are able to remember things. This is why my research indicates that Alzheimers disease is caused by chronic dehydration of the brain cells. When dehydrated, many brain cells die. Unlike other cells in the body, new brain cells are not produced to replace the dying ones. Learn to prevent brain cells’ early death. Learn to even partially reverse some of the damages of dehydration of your brain.”

Herbs

Gingko

”Gingko is an excellent platelet anti-clotting nutrient. Studies show that gingko is helpful for Alzheimer’s disease, for poor memory and impaired circulation. The usual dose is 40 t0 80 mg two to three times daily.” (excerpted from The Bob Livingston Letter, August 2006)

Turmeric / Curcumin

Reportedly, this spice (also available in capsule form) has been used for a variety of diseases and conditions, including cancer (compare Ginger and turmeric fight cancer), rheumatoid arthritis, and Alzheimer's disease. Apparently, there is a low incidence of Alzheimer's in India which studies attributed to the frequent consumption of turmeric.
Article “Curcumin in curry sauce treats Alzheimer's disease” at newstarget.com/003166.html

Swedish Bitters

Swedish Bitters is a time-honoured herbal remedy composed of aloe, myrrh, saffron, senna leaves, rhubarb roots, manna, angelica roots, zedoary roots and other ingredients and said to exert powerful healing effects, including on a person’s brain funtion/memory.

Composite herbal remedies for natural memory support

* “MemoRise for Improved Memory and Retention”

* Ayurvedic herbal formula/composition “Clarimind”

“Sage oil - a memory booster

In the 17th century, herbalist Nicholas Culpeper wrote that the herb sage could ‘heal’ the memory, while, ‘warming and quickening the senses.’ Sage has always had that reputation, but no one knew why. Researchers from the Medical Plant Research Centre (MPRC) at the Universities of Newcastle and North Umbria in the UK have possibly uncovered sage’s ancient secret. An enzyme called acetyl cholinesterase (AChE) breaks down a chemical called acetylcholine that is typically deficient in Alzheimer's patients. According to a 2003 study at MPRC, sage inhibits AChE. Researchers gave 44 subjects either sage oil capsules or placebo capsules containing sunflower oil, and then conducted word recall tests. The group that received sage oil turned in significantly better test results than subjects that took the placebo. Sage can be found in health food stores and from many Internet sites. There are no known side-effects." (quoting from a book by Andreas Moritz, who also authored Cancer is Not a Disease! It's a Survival Mechanism)

Homeopathic remedy

These “Triple Complex Brain Tonic Tissue Salts” are described as temporarily relieving forgetfulness and mental fatigue as well as improving brain functioning.

Essential phospholipids for prevention

“Essential fatty acid phosphatidylserine (PS) is powerful prevention for memory loss, Alzheimer's and dementia”.
newstarget.com/016646.html

Mental exercise for prevention

Please do a search to read up on the observed link between mental activity and Alzheimer's risk.

Berries for prevention

About berries helping prevent Alzheimer's:
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4632886.stm

Free book by Dr. Harold D. Foster on Alzheimer’s disease

See www.hdfoster.com/dr-fosters-work-alzheimers-disease .

Edgar Cayce’s holistic treatment suggestions

(The following are excerpts from
www.edgarcayce.org/health/database/chdata/data/pralzh3a.html
Copyright 2004 A.R.E.®,Inc. Edgar Cayce Readings © 1971, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 by the Edgar Cayce Foundation.

“...Cayce explained that the various organs of assimilation and elimination are important in the cause and treatment of dementias such as Alzheimer's dementia. Cayce also emphasized the importance of ‘drainages’ and nervous system coordination.

Edgar Cayce also recommended the use of electrotherapy to stimulate nerve regeneration. The use of psychological techniques such as hypnotherapy was suggested. Finally, the spiritual aspects of treatment were also strongly emphasized.

... Edgar Cayce provided numerous readings describing the pathological process and giving recommendations for the treatment of dementia. In general, his approach was to assist the body in cleansing and nurturing the nerve tissue in the brain by a variety of physical, mental and spiritual therapies. In fact, Edgar Cayce even provided a "formula" for rebuilding the brain in cases of dementia.

CAYCE'S FORMULA FOR REBUILDING THE BRAIN

In reading 1800-16, Edgar Cayce laid out the basics of a treatment approach for dementia.
The key elements are:

Electrotherapy with gold and silver "vibratory" solutions.*
Spinal manipulations to improve nervous system coordination and eliminations.
Suggestive therapeutics (a form of natural hypnosis).
Patience (a key spiritual attribute).
‘Other activities in the system, including improved assimilations, circulation and eliminations.
Edgar Cayce's approach to Alzheimer's disease and dementia is described in a book titled ‘Alzheimer's Disease and the Dementias: An Alternative Approach Based on the Readings of Edgar Cayce’ written by David McMillin. Cayce's approach to nervous system regeneration is discussed in detail in ‘Principles and Techniques of Nerve Regeneration.’ Both books are available from A.R.E. Press.”

A case history of Alzheimer's disease healed can be read at www.meridianinstitute.com/news4-1.html Quote: “The Edgar Cayce 'Wet Cell' treatment [wet cell battery or radial appliance] and massage following it on a daily basis is the absolute backbone of our regime.”

* ”Edgar Cayce’s ... readings stated that these metals acted to stimulate the glandular system to rejuvenate the nervous system.” (Meridian Institute)

"BioAnue Memory Mender" (CDP-choline)

See Part 1: Alzheimer's Disease Suggested Causes: CDP-choline (citicoline) deficiency.

“Memory mender” is a nutritional supplement. Quote: “We are so convinced that you will see a difference after using Memory Mender that we offer a 100% Money Back Guarantee. If after one month of using BioAnue Memory Mender you are not satisfied for any reason, simply send us the empty bottles and a written explanation of why you are not satisfied.”

Dr. Hulda Clark’s suggestions as to how to tackle Alzheimer’s disease (excerpted from “The Cure for All Diseases”)

Continued from Part 1: Alzheimer's Disease Suggested Causes: Parasites in combination with the solvents toluene or xylene.

“Whatever the answer, your job is clear. Remove every bit of aluminum from the food and environment. Throw out the pots, the aluminum foil, the cookie sheets, the tea ball. Throw out the kitchen salt, the pickles, the baking powder. Buy things made with baking soda (not baking powder), use a plastic salt shaker, buy salt without added aluminum. Stop using commercial soaps and lotions. Make the soap recipes in this book. Finally, tape over all aluminum handles in the bathroom and elsewhere (e.g. the walker) with masking tape. Then find a chelating doctor to help remove aluminum from the brain. Also use thioctic acid (100 mg; take 2 three times a day).

Kill the four common flukes with the first frequency generator or zapper you can get your hands on. Prevent reinfection from meats and pets. Stop all commercial beverages, including water. The processing has left xylene and toluene in them. They are not put in intentionally. For the same reason, health food beverages are similarly polluted. Only milk is safely bought from the store. You must still sterilize it, however. Make your own fruit juices. Select beverages from the list of recipes given. Drink water from your cold water tap, filtering it with a small pure carbon filter as in a filter pitcher (see Sources).

As much as xylene and toluene are brain-seeking solvents, Shigella is a brain-seeking bacterium. The symptoms it causes are not always the same since they depend on the location of infection. Sometimes they cause tremor, sometimes loss of balance, sometimes speech problems. But they are very serious problems. Kill Shigellas every day at bedtime with your zapper. Start the Bowel Program (page 546). When improvement is lasting you know you have stopped reinfecting from your own bowel or from polluted dairy products.

Remove dental metal and use thioctic acid as a help to clear tissues of metal. Use vitamin C (3 grams) and B2 (300 mg) to assist the liver with detoxification. Use B complex (2 a day) to assist the liver generally. Avoid food molds; ergot especially has strong mental effects (see Moldy Food, page 381).

Start a kidney cleanse (page 549) as soon as you can. Follow this with a liver cleanse (page 552). Clean up environment and diet. Your beloved family member or friend with Alzheimer's can regain her or his mental function to a considerable degree. Most important is stopping the mental deterioration before it is not reversible.”

From 4 cases she quotes:

“...Her brain had intestinal flukes and their eggs and was toxic with aluminum (cooking pots) and aluminum silicate (salt). ... She was also toxic with benzene so reinfection was occurring. In addition she was toxic with bromine (from brominated bread?), chlorine (chlorinated water?) lithium, bismuth, vanadium, and tungsten, all known to have strong brain effects. She was also toxic with moth balls and iridium. She harbored Naegleria, another brain parasite.”

“...She was on ClanopinTM medicine, did not try to speak and needed total care, including feeding... had intestinal flukes and their stages in her brain (the cerebrum) as well as intestine. She also had isopropanol solvent, aluminum, chromate and high levels of arsenic in her body...”

“...She was started by medical doctors on EDTA chelation to remove aluminum from her brain. My tests showed aluminum, toluene, sheep liver fluke, asbestos and Shigella bacteria. The parasites and bacteria were zapped immediately and her husband began the difficult task of excluding non-sterile dairy products from the diet provided. In four days she was able to walk by herself, knowing where she was going. She could finish a short sentence and comply with directions to sit down and get up. Then she had a set back—she had acquired Salmonellas in the brain from a bit of dairy food that had slipped by his attention. She was given Lugol’s and she improved further. In ten days she was a new person; an interview of twenty minutes length did not reveal Alzheimer symptoms. Will she be able to hold on to her gains? Only if the aluminum and asbestos are removed from her home environment, his vigilance with dairy food keeps up, and she stays on a maintenance parasite program. But her husband appeared intent on her recovery. She is a person again. And there seems to be a delightful companionship.

“... The first day he arrived, the intestinal flukes in his brain were found and killed. He was started on EDTA chelation. They were warned about non sterile dairy foods. His Shigella was zapped. Four days later he spoke his first meaningful sentence: it was three words long. He could pay attention to the appointment proceedings. Two days after that he was reading a newspaper. This was utterly shocking to his wife. In another three days, he could hold a conversation consisting of very short sentences. Larger ones became hopelessly garbled. He was started on ornithine (4) and valerian capsules (6) at bedtime: this produced a beautiful night’s sleep (especially for his caretakers!) and his days were less agitated. There were still setbacks later but his wife was determined to get him well.”

Also compare kidney cleanse, liver cleanse and Dr. Hulda Regehr Clark’s Detoxification Protocols.

EFT

Last but far from least: EFT Emotional Freedom Technique. This often successful DIYable technique which aims to heal mind and body by re-establishing healthy energy flow can indeed be tried on anything and has already shown some results for Alzheimer’s patients as well (such as helping a wife to remember her husband again).

Addendum: mental-emotional-spiritual factors

The wife of a man stricken with Alzheimer’s wrote to me: “I have seen times when miracles of healing happened just because the patient changed his mind and decided that no illness could approach the spiritual entity that he is. It is not sufficient to only think you are healthy but the person's imagination must be infused with an emotional conviction that it is already done.”

Try all of the above suggestions concurrently for maximum effects if you are willing to do so... but I would add, "Use your internal guidance to determine what seems to be more beneficial and don't go against your own intuition ever, nor insist that you know what's best for anyone else, since all disease has basically a spiritual cause, a false set of beliefs underlying it as the foundational cause.

A difficult thing if the person is still evaluating the symptoms as they seem so real. So long as the symptoms are felt to be real, that set of beliefs is being reinforced by the patient's internal emotional reactions. I have had personal experiences of complete healing of particular symptoms and then had a return of the same symptoms later, when I defined a new pain as being related to the old injury... It's a real challenge to keep the mind clear of all beliefs in pain and injury and ideas that there exists anything in this world to come against the spiritual body... we so closely identify with the physical as being us.

That is the tough thing to stay focused on the actual content of ourselves which is whole life when the form is seeming more solidly real... the physical body.

The physical body is the natural result of the originating beliefs of the identity. Change those beliefs and keep them changed by focusing on the Truth that the individual is only a spiritual awareness of whatever he focuses upon and then train him to focus only upon health without there being anything at all to come against him other than his own beliefs, and he gets well and stays well if he enacts such discipline of his imagination and his associated emotional reactions to his own ideas about his physical body.
Compare healing & your mind.

Treating Alzheimer’s with drugs?

Alzheimer's breakthrough?

Appeared in the Spring 2004 edition of Open Eye.

A BREAKTHROUGH by the Open University's (open.ac.uk) Brain and Behaviour Research Group may change the lives of people with Alzheimer's disease.

The team led by OU Professor Steven Rose (Director of the Brain and Behaviour Research Group) has discovered a way to boost short term memory and alleviate many of the early symptoms of the condition.

They have found a small molecule in the brain that actually restores memory and protects against the effects of the disease a find seen as so significant that it recently beat 650 other submissions to win the prestigious Medical Futures award for the Best Innovation in Mental Health.

Now it is hoped the honour will help fast track a partnership between the OU, which has patented the discovery, and a pharmaceutical company that can turn the findings into drug form.

'We are thoroughly delighted," said Professor Rose, who headed the research team with Dr Radmila Mileusnic and Chris Lancashire.

"But more significant than the award itself is the opportunity it has given us to work with drug companies to turn this into a treatment."

Professor Rose and his colleagues were experimenting to discover the properties of a "sticky" substance which links brain cells together to improve memory. If they lose that substance, animals forget," he said.

"We broke down the substance to see if we could discover the exact property that does this. When we found it, and realised that by restoring it artificially, it rescued memory that had been lost, that was certainly a 'Eureka!' moment."

The Edinburgh Medal, an annual award which honours scientists for their scientific work and their wider contribution to society, was presented to Professor Rose in April this year.

For more information on biological research at the OU see: open.ac.uk/science/biosci/research/

Personal note
Drugs mostly serve to mask symptoms while the underlying unhealth is worsened by their toxic side effects. “Drug side effects are the fourth leading cause of death in the industrialized world.” See On Drugs incl. background on the workings of the pharmaceutical industry.

Etanercept

Controversial and expensive, a new treatment for Alzheimer's still in the experimental stage and involving an anti-inflammatory drug called etanercept (usually used in the conventional treatment of rheumatoid arthritis) has been making headlines, incl. with a recent pilot study carried out by LA researcher Edward L Tobinick on 12 persons with mild to severe Alzheimer’s disease. The study, published in the biomed Central MBC Neurology journal, has found an improvement in verbal fluency following the perispinal administration of the drug.

Etanercept apparently has induced "miraculous awakenings" from the disease (look on YouTube for "before" and "after" videos by the family of Alzheimer's victim Walter Skotchdople).

Deadly or ineffective drugs: Aricept

“March 17, 2006 - There were 11 deaths in vascular dementia patients taking the Alzheimer's drug Aricept in a clinical study -- and no deaths in patients taking inactive placebo pills.”

“Popular Alzheimer's Drug Found to Be All But Worthless in Independent Study.” newstarget.com/001692.html

Notes on healing Parkinson's

Parkinson's link to mercury

As with Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's (another neurological illness), is also amenable to heavy metals detoxification. Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt says in one of his German lectures (translated/paraphrased by me):

“Glutathione (which binds mercury and its most toxic form methyl mercury) works phantastically with Parkinson's, often healing it instantaneously upon injection. This effect initially doesn't last, only 18-20 hours until the previous condition returns. Then the next injection must be immediately given. Doing this for months, the time between injections gradually extends, with eventual full recovery of the patient.”
Compare On Effective Holistic Heavy Metal Chelation (Removal): definitions, diagnosis, neurotoxins, heavy metal toxicity & symptoms, risk factors, detox methods & side effects, natural chelation agents, secondary infections, etc.

Ozone treatment

See above under ozone.

EFT

And again, as with Alzheimer’s patients, one important healing approach to look into in my view is EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) which I most highly recommend and which reports "...some astonishing improvements in the symptoms of Parkinson's disease."

Cellect

Cellect is a nutritional supplement developed by the National Cancer Research Foundation (www.ncrf.org). In addition to having helped to achieve many remissions/cures of various forms of cancer, it is also reported to have shown the ability to reverse Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's, Grave's Disease, manic depression, ADHD, and even drug/cigarette/alcohol addiction.

This is somewhat reminiscent of the successes reported from using marine phytoplankton and similar nutrient-dense supplements.

Spiritual healing of Parkinson's?

See the P.S. in Hurricane Jeanne and the Healing Stream.

Another Parkinson's cure?

www.drpaneri.com/Parkinson_Treatment.html : an Ayurvedic healing approach to Parkinson's.

A Parkinson’s Disease Alternatives Forum

Curing Parkinson’s Disease: http://curezone.com/forums/f.asp?f=16

Foods & supplements containing iron and manganese

Both apparently can increase the risk of developing Parkinson's disease.

www.meridianinstitute.com

The Meridian Institute has conducted pilot research projects on numerous conditions, including disease conditions such as Parkinson's disease [based on Edgar Cayce’s healing advice].

A note on placebo power in Parkinson’s disease

SCIENCE (2001: 293: 1164–6) reported a study done at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver) showing the effect of the power of the mind on the release of the brain chemical dopamine (faulty in Parkinson's patients). Instead of administering the standard treatment for Parkinson’s (synthetic dopamine), the researchers had given a placebo while telling the patients that they had received the "real" chemical. As subsequently demonstrated via PET scans, the patients' brains responded by substantially increasing the release of their own stores of dopamine.