Alcoholism and Parkinsons... under-methylation, liver detoxification... Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease...

We have a friend (Manuel 80-years-old) who was a heavy drinker and now is a "recovered alcoholic"... how many years?  Today he suffers from Parkinsons...  I've read lately the risk of Parkinson's Disease and the over-consumption of sugars... or the Risk of Parkinson's Disease and the under-consumption of saturated fat and the underproduction of cholesterol by the Liver...  Now, thinking about how alcoholism affects the liver... I wonder how it may affect the metabolism of fats and sugars and the production of cholesterol...

Today I read that Parkinson's Disease is marked by very low levels of Dopamine... and that Schizophrenia is the opposite and is marked by too high levels of Dopamine... That in the past, Dopamine lowering drugs put schizophrenics in great risk of developing Parkinson's Disease...  

I also just read that caffeine consumption and cigarette smoking are related to a lowered incidence of Parkinson's Disease...  which makes me wonder about the tendency of schizophrenics towards being heavy smokers and heavy caffeine consumers...  Could it be their innate response to the affects of anti-psychotic medications affects upon their dopamine levels?  It is said that the reason for schizophrenia is very high dopamine levels making the schizophrenic overly-active...  The person suffering from Parkinson's Disease may be considered trapped in a neurological cage of under-activity...  I say, "trapped in a neurological cage" because they have no control over their ability to move more energetically...  The center of motor control in their brain called the Basal Ganglia has levels too low of dopamine for adequately sending the messages to the skeletal muscle for agile movement...  When this part of the brain becomes too low in dopamin, the neurons responsible for sending motor response messages die...  

I've also read that many psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia and anti-social disorders are directly related to what is called Histadelia or Under-methylation... meaning that the person has difficulty metabolizing the amino acid histamine, has difficulty converting homocystein to cystein, has difficulty creating methyl groups and subsequently has difficulty producing glutathione from cystein that is virtually non-existent...  All of these processes are very dependent upon sulfur... Bringing up the question of the possibility of too low levels of sulfur in the person's diet.  The main sources of sulfur are from onions, garlic, brocolli, cauliflower and cabbage.  Now, if your sulfur levels are too low and you are not methylizing sufficiently, you are also not able to convert sulfites to sulfates...  The person who has problems with metabolizing histamines and sulfites will find that their immune system reacts regularly to sulfites in the diet (sulfites are used to slow down the Formation of molds in wine, cider, dried fruits, nuts and salad bar items).  Hence a regular allergic reaction.  

When I first stumbled across the idea of Under-Methylation and Histadelia I read that the person suffering that problem lacked certain enzymes in the digestive tract for metabolizing histamines...  My question is, "how may abnormal levels of stress affect the production of enzymes? and where are the enzymes produced?"  Many enzymes for detoxifying the blood are produced in the liver just as the enzymes for producing cholesterol are produced in the liver...  Supposedly, when a person experiences prolonged periods of abnormal stress, their liver produces higher levels of cholesterol and their gallbladder dumps more bile into the duodenum part of the small intestine... In Mexico, bile is called "bilis" and the people with the tendency towards "losing their cool" are generally said "to have 'bilis'"...  Not because they have bile.  But because they are angry people... And in Mexico it is believed that angry people have the tendency towards producing too much bile.  Margarita claimed that in adolescence and earlier childhood she had the tendency towards becoming very angry... so angry that she would find herself vomiting bile...  

Now, some may say that if you produce too much cholesterol and too much bile (bile is formed from cholesterol), you will eventually suffer from gallstones... That said, it has been shown that people who suffer from gallstones lack the amino acid/anti-oxidant Glutathione in their gallbladders (just as people who suffer from cateracts lack glutathione in the sclera and cornea of the eye; also directly related to AGEs created by too much glucose in the blood stream).  When there is too little sulfur in the person's diet or the methyl cycle is interrupted preventing the conversion of homocystein to cystein and subsequently preventing the formation of glutathione (the body's #1 anti-oxidant produced within the human body and not obtained from the diet) various problems may occur: gallstones, cataracts, hardening of the arteries, demencia or neurological disorders...  Alzheimer's Disease has been directly connected to lack of glutathione in the brain just as it has been directly connected to over-consumption of refined carbohydrates (alcohol is processed directly from sugars and starches).  Diabetics have at least a two-fold risk for both heart disease and alzheimers, just as alcoholics have extreme levels of risk for both diabetes and neurological disorders and periferal neuropathies...  

So I ask, "where does all the this methylation take place? where does the production of glutathione take place?"  Did you know that glutathione is one of the most important catelysts for detoxifying the liver?  Do you understand the importance of detoxifying the liver?  I'm almost certain that you have never once thought about detoxifying your liver...  But you do know what causes the greatest risks of damage to your liver: elevated consumption of alcohol and certain toxic chemicals including pharmaceuticals.  Cirosis of the Liver and Hepatitis... But you may not know that there is a process that leads to Cirosis of the Liver and that is really what is at issue for damaging the liver, not the Cirosis.  Cirosis only signifies "scaring".  But, has anyone ever explained what causes the scarring?  And why the scarring is problematic...  You've heard of Alcoholic Fatty Liver disease... It's when the liver has converted so much of the alcohol sugar to fat that it couldn't ship all of that fat out of the liver and the fat ended up taking up space within the liver tissue, interfering in the liver processes and causing scarring...  Two much scaring causes parts of the liver to die called liver disease...  The scarring is called Cirosis.  What you may not have heard of is Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver.  You heard correctly; fatty liver disease not related to alcohol... Probably discovered in non-drinking-aged children... Why?  or How?  It is caused by too much fructose in the liver.  Where did all of that fructose come from?  Commercial Juices and Soft Drinks... "High Fructose Corn Syrup" that actually has less fructose than table sugar.  But, it is easier to down 100 grams of sugar in fruit juices and sodas than it is to down it in cupcakes and bananas... every how many hours... in certain families...  So, what you find is young children and adolescents with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver... the 8-year-olds with "beer bellies"...  The liver is inflamed and juts out just below the rib cage, causing 40-year-old men and 8-year-old boys to look pregnant or as if they swallowed a bowling ball or a watermelon...  

Oh and one more thing... Basically the only "nutrients"/materials absorbed by the stomach are water (limited), aspirin, alcohol and fructose.  Alcohol and Fructose (unlike glucose) don't need transport agents or the breaking down by enzymes for passing through the gastric tissues for entering the blood stream and travel directly to the liver.  Glucose on the other hand must be transported by insulin, Protein must be broken down by enzymes produced by the pancreas and dumped into the Duodenum (so if  you kill your pancreas... not only will you not be able to metabolize glucose, you won't be able to metabolize protein) and Fat must be broken down by bile (formed by cholesterol in the Gallbladder) dumped into the same exact place in the duodenum that the Pancrease dumps the protein digestive enzymes in order to enter the blood stream...  Likewise the fat soluable vitamins A, E, D and K must attach themselves to fat molecules in order to pass into the blood stream; another reason to avoid lowfat diets. So, most digestion is a slower process than that of absorption of alcohol and fructose that takes place beyond the stomach.  Every time you drink alcohol, sodas or fruit juices you are causing an immediate reaction in your liver...  I imagine that would be fine, if what you were ingesting was equally important for you health as those nutrients that pass through the slower, more difficult process of digestion.  But, we all know that Alcohol and Sodas are not health requirements and, in fact, only hinder us...  And, yes, I understand the studies about resveratrol in red wine and certain benefits of certain amounts of liquor on the brain.  But, considering the fact that one can obtain the same benefits from other nutrients typical in the human diet, why take the risk of damaging the liver through the consumption of alcohol?  The risks greatly outweigh the benefits.  

If the fatty liver causes scaring of the liver tissue and hence causes the liver to malfunction and produce too little of certain enzymes and too much of other enzymes (such as ALT and AST) one must ask, what other processes does too much sugar in the diet or fatty liver disease interfer with?

But back to the liver and glutathione or the question, "where is glutathione produced?" and here is the quick response I found on Wikipedia:  "While all cells in the human body are capable of synthesizing glutathione, liver glutathione synthesis has been shown to be essential."  So, if you are in the constant process of damaging your liver, you are constantly placing yourself at risk of damaging essential processes necessary for protecting the health of the rest of your body.  

If you are thinking that I wrote very little about Parkinson's... this was intended as a brief draft of a larger idea.  But, within the writing of the first draft that was not yet intended for posting on my blog, the piece expanded and became adequately "complete" for stimulating thought responses.  Plus, most of my drafts become greatly buried... I very rarely return to what I began as a draft or what I posted on my blog.  I'm constantly moving on... although it is clear that I enter periods where I jump back into my distant past and revisit childhood traumas... probably to your diress or for your entertainment...  But, it is all connected... As I will show you later on why lack of breastfeeding or my mother's diet when she was pregnant with me, my father's illness and sudden death and my subsequent major surgeries at the age of 13 along with household violence/abuse and bullying in school point to a destiny where I wouldn't become a father... and a destiny possibly without cancer; instead with sudden death by heart failure or other vascular issues...  Hormone production, Abnormal Stress and over production of cortisol or stress hormones... Stress or trauma causing chronic childhood insomnia also causing the over production of cortisol or stress hormones (that increase heart rates and blood pressure ultimately damaging the endothelial lining of the arteries causing the production of plaques), major surgeries at the age of 13 halting the growth process.  Prolonged extreme stress affecting breathing patterns (short anxious breaths instead of long relaxed breathing) causing oxygen deficiencies that also increases both heart rate and blood pressure and leads to the damaging of the endothelial lining of the arteries...  Oxygen deficiencies also negatively affect cell metabolism which may be linked to lower methionine and glutathione levels and higher histamine levels also causing inflamation in the lungs (asthma)... Lack of glutathione also leads to decreased detoxification of the liver and the blood that leads to the accumulation of histamines and subsequent allergic reactions (seasonal allergies are also considered asthma) and the impaired breathing due to inflamed respiratory passages such as the nostrils and the lungs... hence, another cause of limited oxygen and the subsequent increase in BP and heart rate...  

Is it a surprise that people diagnosed with hypertension tend towards being tense and having difficulty sleeping and probably being over-achievers... but they also tend to die from heart attacks...  or tend to be on blood pressure medication.  But, for some reason or another the cardiologists don't focus on the true cause of their elevated blood pressure or heart rate... and only focus upon prescribing medications... that blunt certain symptoms causing other symptoms and ignoring the true issue at hand...  Rest, relaxation, sleep and oxygen...

What is the first thing administered to a heart attack "victim" when in the ambulance rushing to the emergency room of a hospital?  Oxygen.  Why?  Because the person stopped breathing? No.  Because, often the oxygen administered stops the heart attack.  Why?

After passing 2 days of not sleeping at all at the San Marcos Fair in Aguascalientes and the stress of having my inlaws with us (they came to help me for 2 weeks due to the heart attack, although I continued performing all my plethora of duties required for managing the business and feeding everyone adequately) I found my BP rise from 125/85 to at least 170/115 (for a few hours and remain around 140/100 for a day... But how did I manage to bring it back to 121/88 a day later?  Blood Pressure medications? Beta Blockers? Statins?  No!  Adequate sleep caused by high doses of Vitamin C and Magnesium along with breathing exercises... You can see a dramatic decline in heart rate within a few minutes of intentional deep breathing using an electronic blood pressure gauge.  So, as you should notice, stress and lack of sleep cause sudden increases in blood pressure and heart rate... not so much diet... it doesn't have to have so much to do with something long term.  Long-term is the hardening of arteries and the formation of arterial plaques.  But, if your heart rate and your blood pressure suddenly rise greatly and if you can drop them equally suddenly without the use of medication, then it is clearly not a case of arterial plaques, hardened arteries, excess cholesterol or saturated fats but something much more natural and curable naturally...  I was amazed that during 25 days of intense stress and responsibility and sleeping an average of 4-5 hours per night (3 hours Thursday, Friday and Saturday), I was able to maintain my systolic blood pressure below (if not well below) that of hypertension.  Diastolic blood pressure has been virtually disqualified as a marker for heart disease...,  although I continued paying great attention to that number being around the 90 mark...  What I haven't been able to relieve myself of concern is with heart rate... since the stats continue mentioning that heart rates above 60 show gradual increases in risk of heart attack, although normal heart rates are considered between 60 and 100 beats per minute.  During the fair my heart rate was generally between 78 and 90... with some dips (in the morning) and some rises (in the afternoon or evening).  

While I haven't been able to change my breathing style, I have become aware of when I'm halting my breath (holding my breath) and I consciously practice deep breathing... while working in the frappe machines, while walking to and from the parking garage or to or from the stand...  Writing on the computer usually increases my blood pressure and tension level.  At the moment, my BP is 121/89 with a heart rate of 86.